Biotech Firm Regeneron Says Antibody Treatment may be Less effective to Omicron

The US based biotech firm said that its synthetic Antibody treatment designed to combat covid-19 may be ineffective on the Omicron variant. It further said that it needs to conduct study on how much effective the synthetic treatment will be.

According to the data of REGEN-OCV, neutralization of both vaccine induced and monoclonal Antibody conveyed immunity including the current REGEN-COV antibodies will be less for acting on the new variant. The REGEN-COV is authorized in US as a post-exposure prophylaxis  who are facing severe illness due to covid-19. The REGEN-COV is yet to be approved by the FDA.

The REGEN-COV is produced from monoclonal antibodies that are the Y shaped proteins that act as defenders and protect the covid-19 pathogens from invading the human cells. The REGEN_COV antibodies named imdevimab and casirivimab are injected intravenously. However, the Regeneron says that the Omicron variant is highly mutant and has high number of mutations on its spike proteins which according to the experts is concerning and worry that the REGEN-COV may be ineffective to the variant.

The WHO in September has authorized Regeneron for treating Covid-19 patients with its REGEN-COV. It has authorized its use for people have specific health profiles and the individual whole immunity is weakened severely.Today the US FDA has amended the emergency use of authorization for Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine to administer to 16 and 17 age individuals. The booster does for 17 and 16 age individuals will be given only if they have completed at least six months of primary vaccination with Pfizer’s COVID-19 Vaccine.