A new Covid-19 antibody treatment from GlaxoSmithKline Plc is said to be effective in combating the latest variant of concern. According to the latest study, it would be useful to hinder the mutations of the omicron variant.
Covid-19 Antibody Treatment
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - DECEMBER 06: A pedestrian walks past cars lined up at a drive-through COVID-19 testing center on December 06, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. New requirements began today for inbound U.S. travelers to provide documentation of a negative Covid test result one day before departure in response to the omicron variant.
According to the latest report by Bloomberg on Tuesday, Dec. 7, several tests were conducted to see the effectiveness of Glaxo's antibody treatment, sotrovimab, to an infected cell.
The researchers managed to create a pseudovirus as part of the experiment to see if the latest remedy could stand up to the spike protein mutations. It was found out later that it could suppress the spike protein of the omicron strand in the cell, according to the drug manufacturer.
After carrying out tests involving 37 mutations, the UK drugmaker appeared to have crafted an ideal treatment against the rest of the coronavirus variants. In the pre-market trading, the co-developer of Glaxo antibody treatment, Vir Biotechnology Inc. saw an increase in shares which hit 7.4% at the time.
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At the time of writing, Glaxo has not yet identified if the omicron can nullify the effect of the current vaccines and treatments. Moreover, the emergence of the new COVID-19 variant meant that the financial market would once again suffer from its aftermath.
Per George Scangos, the CEO of Vir, the company is confident that sotrovimab will be more useful for patients who have existing coronavirus infections. The company claimed that the new treatment lessened people's death and hospitalization risk by 79%.
This month, the UK regulators gave this drug a clearance after undergoing several clinical trials.
Last week, the drugmaker stated that the Glaxo antibody treatment could control the omicron variant. However, the firm believes that it should still do more tests to see if it could stand the other variants.
The said medicine is only one of many potential treatments for coronavirus, which will help reduce the spread of the infection. With the appearance of various injectables for COVID-19, people should still be aware that they could get infected despite completing their vaccine doses.
Besides this drug, Tech Times reported in late November that researchers are thinking of creating a COVID-19 chewing gum that could stop the spread of the disease. However, they noted that they are still experimenting with it early, so more studies will be conducted to prove if it is really effective in mitigating coronavirus.
Omicron Variant Symptoms
In another report by The Independent, South African doctors said that it is still too early to say that the omicron variant symptoms could be milder than the delta strand.
Per South African Medical Association chair Dr. Angelique Coetzee, she observed that some of her patients who suffered from the said variant felt "extreme tiredness," dry cough, and "scratchy throat."
She likened the symptom of the new strand to a normal scenario of a viral infection. Unlike the delta variant, omicron patients did not experience the absence of the sense of taste or smell and even oxygen level drops.
Elsewhere Singapore's Ministry of Health said that the current vaccines for coronavirus could be used to treat the new omicron variant. However, those recovered patients could still acquire the virus for the second time around, per Tech Times.
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Written by Joseph Henry
