The tests performed on two different versions of the coronavirus show that one of the two monoclonal antibodies in Regeneron’s cocktail treatment can neutralize both, despite the mutations, researchers reported Wednesday.
According to CNN, the tests also confirm that vaccines are likely to protect people both from the variant first seen in Britain and known as B.1.1.7 and another first mentioned in Africa. South, called B.1.135.
However, the mutations in B.1.135 allow the virus to suppress immune responses a little more, the team, led by Dr. David Ho at Columbia University’s Diamond AIDS Research Center, reported in a report before – one that has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal.
The cocktail was granted an emergency use permit (EUA) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It was used to treat former US President Donald Trump when he was tested for COVID-19 last year.
“As expected, the virus is circulating, and these data demonstrate the continued ability of REGEN-COV to neutralize emerging rays, further confirming the cocktail approach. Our multi-antibody for infectious diseases, “Regeneron president Dr. George Yancopoulos said in a statement, as quoted by CNN.
Yancopoulos said, “With two complementary antibodies in one treatment, even if one strength decreases, the risk of the cocktail losing effectiveness is significant, as the virus would have to circulate in several specific locations to both avoid antibodies. “
The team led by Ho tested convalescent plasma from 20 patients who received COVID-19, and also blood from 22 people who received two doses of Pfizer or Moderna coronavirus vaccines.
CNN also reported that the team also tested the monoclonal single-antibody treatment of Eli Lilly and Company, which also has EUA. The changes in B.1.1.7 had minor effects if any. But one mutation in particular, in B.1.135, reduced the effectiveness of the immune response in convalescent plasma, in all vaccines, one of the Regeneron antibodies and the Lilly antibody, they said.
The same mutation is found in a variant first seen in Brazil. “Inversely, this virus travels in a direction that may eventually escape our conventional therapeutic and prophylactic interventions that are directed to the viral spike,” Ho’s team wrote as reported by CNN.
“If the rampant spread of the virus persists and mutations accumulate more urgently, we may be doomed to chase an ever-growing SARS-CoV-2, as we did long ago for influenza virus. , “he said.
The team also said the world needs to give people a vaccine faster and, in the meantime, duplicate measures to stop the spread of the virus, such as the use of masks.