Never mind the ********, where's the bebtelovimab?

[bennevisplace]

A recent lab study nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/N... examined the ability of a number of FDA-authorised monoclonal antibodies to neutralise various sub-variants of the omicron variant of SARS-CoV2.

While not supported by any clinical data, in this laboratory comparison the clear "winner" of the antibody stakes was bebtelovimab, prompting this letter to The Lancet pleading for wider access to the drug thelancet.com/journals/lani...

To date, bebtelovimab does not have regulatory approval anywhere and only has emergency use authorisation in the USA based on phase 2 trial results.

[Bikram21]

I don’t have any clinical studies to share with you, only a personal experience. In my opinion Bebtelovimab is a miracle drug. I tested positive for Covid at the end of May and my doctor had me in for the Bebtelovimab infusion the next day. I never had anything more than a runny nose. What made getting the infusion tricky for some in the US was not the lack of drug ,but locating a manned infusion chair because of staff shortages.

[bennevisplace in reply to Bikram21]

Thanks for sharing your experience Bikram21. You were fortunate to receive Bebtelovimab. At that stage perhaps medical opinion had not moved in its favour quite so much and supplies were not so tight?

The US government is said to be getting an additional 150,000 doses, earning Lilly $275 million - that's > $1,800 a dose!

I believe the CDC's official guidance remains as it was in April: "Bebtelovimab is active in vitro against all circulating Omicron subvariants, but there are no clinical efficacy data from placebo-controlled trials that evaluated the use of bebtelovimab in patients who are at high risk of progressing to severe COVID-19. Therefore, bebtelovimab should be used only when the preferred treatment options are not available, feasible to use, or clinically appropriate". The preferred treatment options being Paxlovid and Remdesivir, noting the former "has significant drug-drug interactions" emergency.cdc.gov/han/2022/...

[Bikram21 in reply to bennevisplace]

I don’t believe supplies are tight. The issue is having enough staff to cover the infusion chairs.

[1935husband]

It sure worked for me. Really acted like a mild cold with a cough. Cough lingered for about 4 weeks but now gone.

[hervec]

Bonjour BUT Lilly does not plan to market its treatment outside the United States.

Hervé

[bennevisplace in reply to hervec]

I'm pretty sure you're correct.

[Ibru]

Thank you for sharing these articles. Very helpful!