New omikron variants: – Worrying
Virus variants that are better at avoiding immunity and ordinary antibody treatment are now dominant in Norway, according to FHI.
The new and more resistant variants have created problems for the treatment of corona in those at greatest risk of serious diseases and variants of BQ. 1.1, has put the last treatment options “checkmate”, says professor of infectious medicine, Jens Lundgren, at Rikshospitalet in Copenhagen, to Danish TV 2.
– We were already worried about the variant BA. 5 this summer, when most of these treatments do not work. There were a few again, but they don’t work because of BQ1.1, so of course it’s rubbish, says Lundgren.
That’s why “everyone” is sick now
Chief physician Børre Fevang tells Dagbladet that he agrees with his Danish colleague.
– It is true what Lundgren says, that it looks like the new variants are quite resistant to most of these antibody treatments. It is concerned.
For treatment
Fevang is senior consultant at the Section for Clinical Immunology and Infectious Medicine at the Oslo University Hospital Rikshospitalet, and has, among other things, been involved in the work of preparing the Directorate of Health’s guide for drug treatment of covid-19.
Today, it is for treatment methods that are used: the corona pill Paxlovid, and treatment with monoclonal antibodies – injections that are designed specifically to bind to the coronavirus spike protein, so that the virus does not enter the body’s cells.
Of these for treatment, it is perhaps the corona pill that is most effective, says Fevang.
Not for everyone
The problem is that not everyone can get it.
– The reason is that it interacts with other medicines. Among other things, in patients who have been transplanted, it will cause you to receive very high concentrations of immunosuppressive transplant medicines. So you have a group that is basically vulnerable to the coronavirus, who cannot get the corona pill.
This patient group also responds less well to the vaccines.
The alternative has therefore been treatment with monoclonal antibodies, of which there are three different ones on the market in Norway, for this group.
– They have proven quite vulnerable to changes in the virus. New variants of the virus have been a problem all the way to treatment and vaccination, and we are prepared for this to be a problem in the future as well, says Fevang.
– Demanding situation
– Racing
The pharmaceutical companies are in the process of developing new antibody treatments, but it is uncertain whether they will arrive in time, according to Fevang.
– So it’s a race between the virus and these antibodies. The antiviral drugs, such as the corona pill, are more robust and less vulnerable to changes in the virus itself.
But even though there are corona medicines for the vast majority of people, being given an opportunity to vaccinate is still the most important thing.
– Are you worried that the new variants are more resistant to vaccines and treatment?
– Yes, I am. It is an excess of unvaccinated and partially vaccinated people who need hospitalization. So it is important to get vaccinated, even if it is now a new virus, they continue to provide protection, even if it may not be as good as with previous variants, says Fevang and adds:
– We don’t know what will come, and if it turns out that the new variants of the viruses are also resistant to the corona pill, then we have a big challenge in the treatment of a good number of patients. But for the time being, it does not seem that corona pills are.
For the general population, according to FHI, the new variants of omikron do not seem to make a big difference.
– All these variants are quite good at bypassing previous immunity so that they spread quite well, but they do not seem to cause more serious diseases. This does not just apply to BQ. 1.1, but in other words all the variants that are in circulation now, says specialist director Preben Aavitsland in FHI to Dagbladet.