#Infants Admitted to US Intensive Care Units for #RSV Infection During the 2022 Seasonal Peak

📌 This study of 600 infants requiring intensive care for RSV infection found that most were delivered full-term and previously healthy. Infants aged < 3 months and those born prematurely were at higher risk for intubation.

📌 These findings support the use of new preventative interventions, including long-lasting #monoclonal antibodies in all infants and maternal #vaccination

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/articlepdf/2808356/halasa_2023_oi_230837_1691425906.74093.pdf

https://fortune.com/well/2023/04/29/covid-antiviral-paxlovid-evade-deborah-birx-double-deaths/ “#Omicron is mutating to bypass the initial arsenal of weapons developed for use against it. Already, its changes have rendered every universal #monoclonal antibody treatment—administered to people at high risk of hospitalization and death—useless. Eventually, it will take down #Paxlovid, too, Birx says.

She added: “If we lose Paxlovid, we could easily double the number of deaths,” which currently sit at just over 1,000 per week”

It also suggests that there’s value in using #monoclonal antibodies again even if they’ve lost their #COVID neutralizing ability against #omicron. There’s SO much more to immunology beyond antibody neutralization! 14/

#TWiVTLDR

Best news today!

Govt invests $5 billion in a new program to accelerate the development of next-gen pan-corona & mucosal #vaccines , as well as new #monoclonal treatments. Many scientists, like @EricTopol , have been calling for an Operation Warp speed for a good while. Let’s hope Project Next Gen is wildly successful for this gen! 💪

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2023/04/10/operation-warp-speed-successor-project-nextgen/
#Biden #Covid #Vaccines

- Most #monoclonal antibodies have lost neutralizing activity against #omicron #COVID, but Sotrovimab was proven to still retain partial activity against viral replication in omicron variant BQ.1.1 in non-human primates. It might be hard to do human trials on this, because there’s so many other treatments that do work, that the population that would be eligible is very small.

#TWiVTLDR

Gupta et al, 2023: By day 7 post- #monoclonal antibody treatment, 35/204 (17.2%) patients developed #SARSCoV2 mutations, many in the same places, corresponding to the respective mAb's binding site or nearby. #COVID19
https://www.reddit.com/r/COVIDZero/comments/119mg3f/gupta_et_al_2023_by_day_7_post_monoclonal/

Less is more for monoclonal antibody affinity?
(Particularly if deletion is not the goal)

"This approach delivered higher immune cell activation, in vivo T cell expansion and antitumour activity in the case of CD40. Moreover, an inert anti-4-1BB monoclonal antibody was transformed into an agonist. Low-affinity variants of the clinically important antagonistic anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody nivolumab also mediated more potent signalling and affected T cell activation."

#Monoclonal #MonoclonalAntibody #immunology #drugdiscovery #drugdevelopment

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05673-2

"The lack of appropriate neutralizing antibodies recognizing IL-2RG has made it difficult to thoroughly interrogate the role of γc cytokines in inflammatory and autoimmune disease settings. Here, we generated a γc cytokine receptor antibody, REGN7257, to determine whether γc cytokines might be targeted for T cell–mediated disease prevention and treatment."

#immunology #cytokine #Monoclonal

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.abo0205

The dark side of treating #COVID19 with #monoclonal antibodies

approximately 8% of mAb-treated patients developed evasive SARS-CoV-2 spike mutations with remarkable speed and high specificity for the targeted mAb binding sites." Moreover, while most patients gradually cleared the virus, patients with weakened immune systems "had significantly higher viral loads for prolonged periods and had 3-fold higher chance to develop SARS-CoV-2 escape mutations."

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-02-dark-side-covid-monoclonal-antibodies.html 

[Correspondence] Imai et al, 2023: All #monoclonal antibody treatments tested were ineffective at neutralizing BQ.1.1 and XBB. However, all #antivirals tested (remdesivir, molnupiravir, nirmatrelvir) were effective at inhibiting the two #SARSCoV2 strains.

https://www.reddit.com/r/COVIDZero/comments/104e8vd/correspondence_imai_et_al_2023_all_monoclonals/

#Monoclonal antibody drugs no longer work against the newest #COVID #variants.

But, #plasma from vaccinated people who got an #Omicron breakthrough infection contains polyclonal #antibodies that potently neutralize #BQ.1.1, XBB.1 and BF.7 variants. https://buff.ly/3Z0k5Jp

#COVID NEWS (USA)

#FDA approved a new indication for the #monoclonal #antibody tocilizumab (Actemra, #Genentech) for treatment of hospitalized adults with #COVID19 receiving systemic corticosteroids and requiring supplement oxygen, mechanical ventilation (invasive or non-invasive), or #ECMO.

https://www.fda.gov/media/150319/download

#Monoclonal antibodies may not be effective against emerging strains of SARS-CoV-2

#COVID19

📌 These monoclonal antibodies are designed to neutralise the virus by binding to the spike protein on its surface. However, emerging strains have mutations in this protein which can reduce the ability of the antibodies to bind to them.

📌 healthcare professionals will need to consider alternative treatments, especially if subvariants such as BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 become prevalent.

https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/news/etf-warns-monoclonal-antibodies-may-not-be-effective-against-emerging-strains-sars-cov-2

A research team led by the University of California, Riverside, has discovered important details about how therapeutically relevant human #monoclonal #antibodies can protect against Crimean Congo #Hemorrhagic #Fever #virus, or #CCHFV
#Virology #Medical #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2022/11/vi11282201.html

[Correspondence] Arora et al, 2022: Multiple currently emerging/circulating #SARSCoV2 strains are resistant to most (BA.2.75.2, BJ.1) or ALL #monoclonal antibodies or mAb cocktails, including those currently being clinically trialled. #COVID19 https://www.reddit.com/r/COVIDZero/comments/z60z4k/correspondence_arora_et_al_2022_multiple/

Note that BJ.1 is one of the "parents" of recombinant strain XBB. https://twitter.com/MoritzGerstung/status/1596841800680890368

@rbreich Other major issues at work are: 1. Easy $$ on existing revenue streams protected by gov't rules (FDA, etc) that limit competition; 2. Little C-level $$ incentive to pursue risky research projects (why risk bonus $$?). This has major downstream consequences to world-wide health as evidenced by virtually no #R&D on new #antibiotics & major focus on #diseases that can be addressed by #monoclonal #antibodies, which cost much less for big Pharma to develop. Profit margins on #mAbs are HUGE.

Chinese #Communist #Researcher Stole U.S. #Monoclonal #Antibody ‘#Secrets’… In 2015. https://chaunceyibrowniii.com/chaunceys-blog/f/chinese-communist-researcher-stole-us-monoclonal-antibody-secrets