Lab Tests: Eli Lilly, Regeneron Antibody Therapies Lose out Against Omicron

Lab Tests: Eli Lilly, Regeneron Antibody Therapies Lose out Against Omicron
An Eli Lilly and Company pharmaceutical manufacturing plant is pictured at 50 ImClone Drive, in Branchburg, N.J., on March 5, 2021. Mike Segar/Reuters
Reuters
Updated:

FRANKFURT, GERMANY—German researchers have found that COVID-19 therapies developed by Eli Lilly and Regeneron lose most of their effectiveness when exposed in laboratory tests to the Omicron variant of coronavirus, likely reducing treatment options if the new variant prevails.

Two groups of Germany based scientists separately found that protection from GlaxoSmithKline and Vir’s antibody cocktail Xevudy held up when exposed to Omicron in lab experiments, but that this was not the case for Lilly’s antibodies, bamlanivimab and etesevimab, and the antibodies in Regeneron’s Ronapreve drug.