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EUA Granted for Monoclonal Antibody for Hospitalized People With COVID-19

The monoclonal antibody, tocilizumab, blocks the interleukin-6 (IL-6) receptor and reduces inflammation caused by an overactive immune reaction to COVID-19. It was granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on June 24, 2021. The EUA applies to adults and pediatric patients hospitalized with COVID-19 and who are receiving systemic […]

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SARS-CoV-2 Delta Variant and Its Effect on Current Prevention and Treatment Strategies

The SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant (B.1.617.2) that first emerged in India is now the most prevalent Variant of Concern (VOC) in the United Kingdom1 and has been detected in almost 10% of all infections in the United States.2 Delta appears to be more transmissible than the Alpha variant (B.1.1.7)1 and carries mutations L452R and K478T in

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Emergency Use Authorization for Lower Dose Intravenous and Subcutaneous Casirivimab Plus Imdevimab

On June 4, 2021, the dose of casirivimab and imdevimab monoclonal antibody cocktail authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was lowered from 2400 mg to 1200 mg—600 mg of each agent administered as a single infusion or injection. This antibody combination is authorized for the treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in adults and pediatric

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New COVID-19 Monoclonal Antibody Granted Emergency Use Authorization

On May 26, 2021, a new COVID-19 monoclonal antibody therapy—sotrovimab (previously VIR-7831)— was added to the list of infusion therapies authorized by the Food and Drug Administration for non-hospitalized people 12 years of age and older and weighing at least 40 kg, who have mild-to-moderate COVID-19 and risk factors for progressing to severe disease.1 Rather

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Research Aimed at Understanding Long COVID

Infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, or SARS-CoV-2, can leave persistent and prolonged effects in multiple organ systems, causing breathing problems, fatigue, joint pain, brain fog, and heart palpitations, plus depression and other mood disorders.1,2 Survivors of the SARS epidemic and the Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS, outbreak have reported similar long-term

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Therapies For COVID-19 Prevention

Other than vaccines, there are currently no therapies approved or authorized for emergency use for prevention of COVID-19. At the beginning of the pandemic, there was a lot of buzz around hydroxychloroquine as a preventive agent for both pre-exposure prophylaxis among healthcare workers and post-exposure prophylaxis for healthy household contacts; however, clinical trials to date

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COVID-19 Monoclonal Antibodies and Effectiveness Against Variants

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that the COVID-19 variant first identified in the U.K.—B.1.1.7—is the most common cause of new infection in the U.S, particularly in Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Colorado, California, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.1 This strain has evidence of being more infectious and causing more severe disease compared

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Messenger RNA Vaccines Against COVID-19 and its Variants

The novel messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech (BNT162b2) and Moderna (mRNA-1273) carry the genetic code the host cell needs to make the surface spike protein antigen to closely mimic a natural infection.1 To study the effectiveness of these vaccines, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) conducted a longitudinal real-world study

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Coronavirus Variants and their Impact on Treatment

New coronavirus variants are circulating in the United States. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) established a SARS-CoV-2 interagency group (SIG) to improve coordination among government agencies in characterizing and monitoring new variants and determining their potential impact on COVID-19 treatment and prevention measures. The SIG includes the Centers for Disease Control and

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Updates in the Treatment and Prevention of COVID-19​

Bebtelovimab Is the Only Monoclonal Antibody That Retains Activity Against Omicron Subvariants

The Omicron subvariants BA.2 and BA.2.12.1 now account for 99% of all COVID-19 cases in the United States. Studies assessing the neutralizing activity of monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of COVID-19 have found that only bebtelovimab retains activity against BA.2 and BA.2.12.1. Other monoclonal antibodies, including sotrovimab, bamlanivimab, etesevimab, casirivimab, and imdevimab, are not effective against these new subvariants and are not currently authorized by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat COVID-19 due to the high incidence of Omicron BA.2.

Bebtelovimab is authorized for emergency use by the FDA for the treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in patients 12 years and older weighing at least 40 kg with positive results of direct SARS-CoV-2 viral testing who are at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19, including hospitalization or death. Bebtelovimab should be administered as soon as possible after positive SARS-CoV-2 results and within 7 days of symptom onset.

FDA Approves Baricitinib for Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients

Baricitinib, an oral Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor, is now FDA-approved for the treatment of COVID-19 in hospitalized adults requiring supplemental oxygen, noninvasive or invasive mechanical ventilation, or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). It is also authorized for emergency use by the FDA for hospitalized pediatric patients between 2 and 18 years of age who require oxygen support. The approval of baricitinib is based on efficacy and safety data from the ACTT-2 and COV-BARRIER clinical trials. In ACTT-2, baricitinib plus remdesivir was superior to remdesivir alone in reducing recovery time, particularly in patients receiving high-flow oxygen or noninvasive ventilation (10 days vs 18 days; rate ratio for recovery, 1.51; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.10 to 2.08). The 28-day mortality was 5.1% with baricitinib plus remdesivir and 7.8% with remdesivir alone (hazard ratio [HR] for death, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.39 to 1.09). The COV-BARRIER trial found that baricitinib, in addition to standard of care (SoC), was associated with reduced 28-day mortality in hospitalized adults with COVID-19 compared with SoC alone (8% vs 13%; HR, 0.57; 95% CI, 0.41 to 0.78; P= .0018). The 60-day all-cause mortality was 10% with baricitinib plus SoC versus 15% with SoC (P= .005).

References:
Baricitinib fact sheet for healthcare providers. May 2022. (https://www.fda.gov/media/143823/download).  Accessed 5.24.2022.

Baricitinib (Olumiant®) PI 2022 (https://pi.lilly.com/us/olumiant-uspi.pdf). Accessed 5.24.2022.

Bebtelovimab fact sheet for healthcare providers. May 2022. (https://www.fda.gov/media/156152/download).  Accessed 5.24.2022.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). COVID data tracker. May 23, 2022. (https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#variant-proportions). Accessed 5.24.2022.

Iketani S, et al. Antibody evasion properties of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron sublineages. Nature. 2022;604:553-556.

Kalil AC, et al. Baricitinib plus remdesivir for hospitalized adults with COVID-19. N Engl J Med. 2021;384:795-807.

Marconi VC, et al. Efficacy and safety of baricitinib for the treatment of hospitalised adults with COVID-19 (COV-BARRIER): a randomised, double-blind, parallel-group, placebo-controlled phase 3 trial. Lancet Resp Med. 2021;9:1407-1418.