The new ‘Scrabble’ variants aren’t responding to certain treatments, including Evusheld, a drug used as prevention for people who are immunocompromised.
"What these three variants have in common, so the two BQs plus the 4.6, and a couple of others, is that they are more resistant to the monoclonal antibodies that we've been using," he says.
Their evasive nature will likely make Bebtelovimab ineffective in patients with Covid-19 infections from those variants, he adds. "Both of these pose threats either to people who are being treated with Covid today or where we're trying to prevent Covid today," he notes.Thankfully, antivirals, including Paxlovid and remdesivir, still provide full protection against these variants at this time, says Gulick."They're powerful tools that people who are at risk really should make use of," he says.