Drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline says the COVID-19 antibody drug it produces appears to be effective against the omicron variant of the virus.
According to the company, testing shows that the drug sotrovimab, an investigational monoclonal antibody, appears to be effective against the omicron variant and other COVID-19 variants.
“Sotrovimab was deliberately designed with a mutating virus in mind. By targeting a highly conserved region of the spike protein that is less likely to mutate, we hoped to address both the current SARS-CoV-2 virus and future variants that we expected would be inevitable,” said George Scangos, chief executive officer of Vir Biotechnology, Inc.
Vir is partnering with GlaxoSmithKline to develop the drug.
Lab tests and a study on hamsters have demonstrated the sotrovimab antibody cocktail works against viruses that were bioengineered to carry a number of the mutations seen in the omicron variant, according to a statement from GSK.
“We have every expectation that this positive trend will continue and are working rapidly to confirm its activity against the full combination sequence of omicron.”
The British pharmaceutical company said it hopes to complete testing by year’s end to confirm whether the drug is effective against all the various mutations seen with the omicron variant.
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