Regeneron – Eli Lilly: Antibody Therapies Against Omicron Less Effective

Early tests suggest that coronavirus antibody therapy developed by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals is losing its effectiveness against the Omicron variant, but the full impact will be known in the coming weeks after further studies, the president told the Wall Street Journal. Head of the Scientific Team of the company, George Yancopoulos.

It is recalled that the Omicron variant was identified in South Africa and was described as a “concern variant” by the World Health Organization on Friday, which led many countries to impose restrictions on travel to and from South Africa.

Meanwhile, a separate study on antibody therapy developed by Eli Lilly & Co. shows that it is also less effective than Omicron.

The researchers say that some antibody therapies may be vulnerable to Omicron because they contain mutations in the spike protein that Regeneron and Lilly therapies target.

Yancopoulos stressed that the company is already working on alternative antibodies that will fight Omicron.