According to a new study, the medications behind the new pills to treat Covid-19 are still quite effective against the virus's Omicron variant in lab tests.However, lab studies revealed that the existing antibody treatments, which are normally administered intravenously in hospitals, are far less effective against Omicron than earlier viral types.
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison said, some antibodies have completely lost their capacity to neutralise Omicron at actual doses. Other investigations have found that most currently available antibody therapies are ineffective against Omicron.
To address the limits of current medicines, drug companies could design, test, and produce new antibody medications targeted at the omicron variety, but this procedure would take months.
"The main line is that we have Omicron countermeasures, which is fantastic news," said Yoshihiro Kawaoka, the study's principal researcher and a virologist at the University of Washington School of Veterinary Medicine and the University of Tokyo.
"However, this is all in laboratory experiments; we don't know if this transfers to humans," Kawaoka said. The researchers reported their findings in the New England Journal of Medicine.
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