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Coronavirus pandemic
ChinaScience

Omicron: Covid-19 antibody treatment ‘holds up well’ against new strain, Brii Biosciences says

  • Cocktail of two antibodies, administered by infusion, is the first therapy of its type approved for use in China
  • Company says one antibody had ‘substantial drop in activity’ against the new variant in lab tests, the other wasn’t impacted

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The antibody cocktail also “retains activity” against major variants including Alpha, Beta and Delta, according to developer Brii Biosciences. Photo: AFP
Holly Chik
The developer of China’s first approved Covid-19 antibody cocktail said lab tests had found the treatment “holds up well” against the new Omicron variant, though one of the antibodies had a “substantial drop in activity”.
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Brii Biosciences on Sunday also again said its therapy “retains activity” against major coronavirus strains including the highly transmissible Delta variant and its sub-lineage Delta Plus.

China’s medical products regulator approved its use last Wednesday. The company said the treatment had shown an 80 per cent reduction in hospital admissions and deaths during a global phase 3 clinical trial with 847 non-hospitalised Covid-19 patients. It said no serious adverse events were identified.

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Chinese antibody cocktail a potential game changer in fight against Covid-19

Chinese antibody cocktail a potential game changer in fight against Covid-19

The National Medical Products Administration granted approval for the combination of two antibodies to be used for adults who are at high risk of developing severe Covid-19, which could lead to hospital admission or death, and conditional approval for patients aged 12 to 17.

Brii Bio has also said the Food and Drug Administration in the United States was reviewing its application for emergency use authorisation.

The treatment, administered by infusion, combines two neutralising monoclonal antibodies. They are laboratory-made protein molecules that can act like human antibodies and are created by cloning and combining antibodies found in recovered patients in China.

The company said while one of the antibodies showed “a substantial drop in activity” against Omicron in tests by independent laboratories, the other one “was not impacted” by the highly mutated variant.

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