COVID-19: This Treatment Probably Won't Be Effective Against Omicron Subvariant, FDA Says

GlaxoSmithKline’s COVID-19 antibody-drug is unlikely to be effective against the notorious Omicron subvariant known as BA.2, the pharmaceutical giant announced Friday.

The company said that regulators have “amended the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) Fact Sheet for sotrovimab, an investigational monoclonal antibody,” as evidence showed that “it is unlikely that the sotrovimab 500 mg dose will be effective against the Omicron BA.2 variant.”

As BA.2 continues to be the dominant variant nationwide, the regulators halted the distribution of the company's COVID-19 therapy, dubbed sotrovimab, in areas of the Northeast where the subvariant is most prominent. According to The New York Times, it will cease shipments of the treatment to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands as well.

GSK is working on data that will promote the use of a higher dose of the treatment, according to Reuters.

According to data from Moderna, its two-dose mRNA COVID-19 vaccine is effective in children under the age of 6, as two 25 microgram doses of its vaccine produced an almost identical immune response in children under 6 compared to two 100 microgram doses for adults aged 18 to 25.