Vaccination remains the most effective way to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, despite widespread availability of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, a number of individuals are either not fully vaccinated or cannot mount adequate responses to the vaccine. Some of these people, if infected, are at high risk of progression to serious COVID-19. On July 30, 2021, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expanded the …
“As of June 25, 2021, the CDC has identified that the combined frequencies of the SARS-CoV-2 P.1/Gamma variant (first identified in Brazil) and the B.1.351/Beta variant (first identified in South Africa) throughout the United States now exceed 11% and are trending upward. Results from in vitro assays that are used to assess the susceptibility of viral variants to particular monoclonal …
According to an article published in Health Medicine Network: Monoclonal antibodies, a COVID-19 treatment given early after coronavirus infection, cut the risk of hospitalization and death by 60% in those most likely to suffer complications of the disease, according to an analysis of University of Pittsburgh Medical Center patients who received the medication compared to similar patients who did not. …
The U.S. government is no longer distributing the monoclonal antibody therapy bamlanivimab due to the sustained increase in coronavirus variants in the United States. The FDA has determined that this monoclonal antibody therapy may not produce the desired effects with the widely spreading variants of the virus. However, when administered with etesevimab, another monoclonal antibody treatment also developed by Eli …
Bamlanivimab (LY-CoV555) significantly reduced the risk of contracting symptomatic COVID-19 among residents and staff in long-term care facilities, Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) announced. The 965 participants who tested negative for the SARS-CoV-2 virus at baseline (299 residents and 666 staff) were included in the analysis of primary and key secondary endpoints for assessing prevention, while the 132 participants …
