SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.2 Variant Evades Neutralization by Therapeutic Monoclonal Antibodies17 Feb 2022 17:48
New pre-print on BA.2, don't believe it's been posted here yet.. Pretty grim reading for just about everything bar the urgent need for SNG001 tbh
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.02.15.480166v1
Discussion
We report here that none of the therapeutic monoclonal antibodies tested here neutralized the Omicron BA.2 variant with titers detectable in a highly sensitive assay. Vir-7831 (Sotrovimab) and the monoclonal antibodies that constitute Evusheld (Tixagevimab/Cilgavimab), which have good significant titers against BA.1, failed to detectably neutralize BA.2 spike protein-pseudotyped virus.
Consistent with previous reports, BA.1 was resistant to neutralization by Regeneron and Eli Lilly antibody ****tails but partially susceptible to neutralization by Vir-7831 (Sotrovimab) and the Evusheld (Tixagevimab/Cilgavimab) monoclonal antibody ****tail (6-8). Evasion of BA.2 from antibody neutralization is caused in part by the additional mutations in the RBD in combination with the additional N-terminal domain mutations (not tested here).
Since the identification of the Omicron BA.2 variant in several countries including Denmark, South Africa and India, the variant has been identified in infected individuals in additional countries and mathematical models predict that its increased transmissibility will result in its continued increase in prevalence (2). While monoclonal antibody therapy has been highly effective at preventing hospitalization and death, the emergence of the Omicron variant poses a major threat to the efficacy of current treatments. As BA.2 prevalence increases, current monoclonal antibodies may become less effective for the treatment of COVID-19. Therapies that target BA.2 and potential future variants that may emerge are therefore of great importance. The findings presented here demonstrate the difficulty of finding a pan-neutralizing monoclonal antibody against SARS-CoV-2.
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