New variants: Corona medicines ‘not very effective’

So-called monoclonal antibodies, which are administered by injection or infusion at the hospital, have so far helped to alleviate the symptoms of Covid-19 in many at-risk patients or sick people treated in hospital. Monoclonal antibodies are lab-made proteins that help the immune system fight Covid-19.

The main antibody-based corona drugs include Evusheld from the British pharmaceutical manufacturer AstraZeneca, Ronapreve from the French concern Roche and Xevudy, developed by the British company GlaxoSmithKline and the American company Vir. The World Health Organization (WHO) had already advised in September to stop using Xevudy and Ronapreve because they were no longer effective against new variants.

Paxlovid should remain effective
The EMA has now stated that the antibodies from these drugs also “did not significantly neutralize strains BQ.1 and BQ.1.1, which are expected to become the dominant subvariants in the EU in the coming weeks.” However, according to the EMA, antivirals such as Paxlovid from pharmaceutical manufacturer Pfizer should remain effective. EU member states should therefore build up a stockpile for high-risk patients.

The Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus has evolved into numerous variants since it appeared in China in late 2019. While previous “variants of concern” such as alpha and delta eventually died out, the omicron variant and its subtypes dominated infection activity through 2022.