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Two Covid-19 antibody therapies are no longer recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO), as Omicron and the variant's latest offshoots have likely rendered them obsolete. The two therapies - which are designed to work by binding to the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 to neutralise the virus' ability to infect cells - were some of the first medicines developed early in the pandemic. The virus has since evolved, and mounting evidence from lab tests suggests the two therapies - sotrovimab, as well as casirivimab-imdevimab - have limited clinical activity against the latest iterations of the virus.

It neutralized the coronavirus behind the first SARS outbreak, too. newly discovered antibody was able to neutralize not only all strains of COVID-19, but other coronaviruses known to cause respiratory infections in humans — a potential silver bullet for a whole class of deadly, flu-like viruses. Mutant viruses: As viruses spread, they undergo tiny genetic mutations, and when we find a unique version of the virus, we call it a new strain. Occasionally, new strains appear that can spread more easily, evade the immune system, or cause more severe disease. Several worrisome strains of COVID-19 have already appeared during the...

An antibody therapy that appears to neutralize all known SARS-CoV-2 strains, and other coronaviruses, was developed with a little help from structural biologist Jay Nix News Center Scientist at Berkeley Lab Played a Hand in “Inescapable” COVID-19 Antibody Discovery An antibody therapy that appears to neutralize all known SARS-CoV-2 strains, and other coronaviruses, was developed with a little help from structural biologist Jay Nix Lifesaving COVID-19 vaccines are allowing us to feel optimistic again, after more than a year of anxiety and tragedy. But vaccines are only one side of the coin – we also need treatments that can prevent...

The study recruited the first participant in the world to the study earlier this month and has recruited 10 participants since then Scientists in the UK have begun trials of innovative antibody drug treatments that they hope could provide instant protection against COVID-19. The University College London Hospitals NHS Trust (UCLH) said that the researchers in the Storm Chase study believe a Long Acting AntiBody (LAAB) known as AZD7442, developed by AstraZeneca, may offer immediate and long-term protection to people who have been recently exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and prevent them developing COVID-19. The study, led by UCLH virologist...

UK trials new antibody therapy that can stop people who have been exposed to COVID becoming ill and it could save MILLIONS of lives across the globe Drug would offer immediate and long-term protection to patients when it would be too late to offer a vaccine It could be given as an emergency treatment to hospital inpatients, care home residents and university students to help reduce the spread of the virus Scientists from the University College London Hospitals NHS (UCLH) have injected ten people with the drug In the U.S. there have been more than 18.7 million Americans infected with...

B cells banished. An antibody that depletes B cells kept the pancreas cells of one mouse looking healthy (top), whereas the control animal sustained immune attacks on the organ (bottom).Credit: Chang-yun Hue et al., JCI, 117 (December 2007) An antibody therapy that's approved to treat certain cancers and arthritis has helped prevent--and even beat back--type 1 diabetes in mice. The news is heartening to researchers, who had already launched a human trial of the therapy, rituximab. But it also raises concerns that diabetes patients and their doctors will start trying the drug before it's been shown to work in humans....