I saw a post on Reddit about transplant patients being told to stop taking Evusheld. I just got my shots on December 1st. I did some more research and found even worse news.
The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday ended its emergency authorization for the only remaining Covid-19 antibody therapy cleared for use, saying variants that render it ineffective are now dominant in the United States.
The news about bebtelovimab makes official what has been anticipated for several weeks, as the Omicron sublineages BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 have been growing in prevalence. Still, it comes as a blow to both providers and patients who are at risk for more severe outcomes. The rapid evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 virus had already knocked out several other monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of Covid.
Eli Lilly, the maker of bebtelovimab, has stopped the commercial distribution of the treatment, the FDA said. Various companies are working on updated antibody therapies, but none appears close to being authorized.
https://www.statnews.com/2022/11/30/covid-evolution-wipes-out-another-antibody-treatment-threatening-the-countrys-medicine-cabinet/
The article goes on to state that Evusheld is also not effective against the new “BQ” variants: BQ.1 and XBB. BQ.1 is a subvariant of BA.5, which I got on the way back from Paris back in June. XBB is a combination of two BA.2 variants. BA.5 and BA.2 caused the recent bump in cases over the summer and is causing havoc in China now. I guess the two new mutations can evade injected antibodies.
This totally sucks for me. Due to anti-rejection medication, my response to COVID vaccines have been minimal, even though I just received my fifth shot, a bivariant booster. I also got both Evusheld and bebtelovimab this year, but evidently, they are not effective against BQ.1 and XBB. It is likely I will start working mostly from home again until there is updated medication available. 😱
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In hindsight, I probably should not have attended our company’s party yesterday. It felt like there were 10,000 people in attendance.
Life with chronic diseases 