Monoclonal antibodies were once the star of COVID-19 outpatient treatments. Since they first became available in 2020 – even before the first vaccines – more than 3.5 million infusions of the factory-grown proteins have been given to patients in the U.S. to help reduce risk of hospitalization.
But one by one, different monoclonal treatments have lost their efficacy against new variants of the coronavirus. The rise of Paxlovid antiviral pills earlier this year, further dented their appeal. Now, a new wave of omicron subvariants that are the best yet at evading the immune system’s current defenses have taken over in the U.S. They’re expected to knock out bebtelovimab, the last monoclonal antibody treatment standing against the coronavirus.
Soon, it’ll join bamlanivimab, casirivimab, sotrovimab and others in the graveyard of monoclonals that once targeted past COVID strains until they were outflanked by variants that evaded their protection. “Monoclonals had their day, like the Model T or the biplane,” says Carl Dieffenbach, director of the Division of AIDS at the National Institutes of Health, and lead of the NIH’s Antiviral Program for Pandemics, “Now it’s time to move on.”
Read more at NPR
Editor’s Note: An interesting pretty green color to paint the wall considering how plants are humans’ external organs. Without plants we would cease to exist. If more people ate green chlorophyll rich foods, like leafy greens, perhaps we would see less unhealthy people and animals. — mmd