Replies

So you have to get a COVID diagnosis that does the genetic sequencing to determine what variant you have. Isn’t that a very high hurdle? I understand patients are not told which variant they have.

FWIW, I believe that from the standpoint of clinical diagnosis, Delta tends to go for the Lower Respiratory Tract, Omicron the Upper. gas_dr posted about this a few days ago. However, current fatalities even with Omicron's dominance would suggest that as an absolute number, quite a few Omicron cases ARE still progressing to the lungs.

This leaves me with the question: Do the now limited monoclonals actually do harm if administered to a patient declining quickly, variant only suspected, and then it turns out he / she has Omicron?

The NIH authorized Sotrovimab by GlaxoSmithKline for the Omicron variant. There are huge supply problems. Why in the world doesn’t GSK do an urgent license of their product to Eli Lilly and Regeneron and have them make it? The three of them could agree to cross-license products for future variants. There is huge demand right now and they all could make a lot of money via this business approach.

Darn good point. I don't know. These companies have press conferences and interviews -- SOMEBODY should ask!

Why doesn’t the Biden administration tell them to get together and cross-license?

Well, the most likely explanation is incompetence. But, the Admin. has even more press conferences and interviews -- SOMEBODY should ask!!!

Do the now limited monoclonals actually do harm if administered to a patient declining quickly, variant only suspected, and then it turns out he / she has Omicron?

I've wondered the exact same thing! Is there any potential harm administering the existing Eli Lilly and Regeneron MABs on the chance that the patient has Delta? The government was awfully quick yanking their authorization when Omicron took over, but Nextstrain shows that only 5% of samples taken on January 22 in North America are Delta.

Is efficacy zero against Omicron? Or just diminished?