Some Covid patients develop resistance to Sotrovimab treatment
<p dir="ltr">As treatments continue to be developed for patients with COVID-19, some scientists have found that one in particular may cause the virus to mutate so that it becomes harder to treat.</p>
<p dir="ltr">A team of Australian researchers analysed samples from the first 100 people to be treated with Sotrovimab - an increasingly popular treatment that targets the Omicron variant and prevents severe COVID-19 symptoms - only to make some interesting findings.</p>
<p dir="ltr">They took samples from the patients before and after they were treated with Sotrovimab and sequenced the genome of the virus in each sample.</p>
<p dir="ltr">In four of the patients, the team found that the virus had mutated in ways that made it more resistant to treatment within 13 days of treatment.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“We discovered that the virus that causes COVID-19 can develop mutations within the patient several days after Sotrovimab treatment, which reduces the effectiveness of this treatment by greater than 100-fold,” Dr Rebecca Rockett, a Sydney researcher in infectious disease and co-author of the study, <a href="https://www.scimex.org/newsfeed/covid-19-patients-can-develop-resistance-to-treatment-with-sotrovimab" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.</p>
<p dir="ltr">This research, published in the <em><a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMc2120219" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New England Journal of Medicine</a></em>, is the first to show the mutations in clinical models, with previous research finding the mutations developed in animal models and when growing the virus in a lab setting.</p>
<p dir="ltr">With this finding, the researchers are calling for the use of Sotrovimab to be monitored to prevent treatment-resistant versions of the virus from spreading in the community.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“Resistant virus samples could be readily grown in the laboratory, a marker that individuals who develop resistance may transmit the resistance virus to others,” said Professor Vitali Sintchenko, the study’s senior author and a fellow researcher in infectious disease.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“(Sotrovimab) is the only one (treatment) we have evidence against so far, but we need to be more on the front foot in terms of efficacy,” Dr Rockett told <em><a href="https://7news.com.au/news/coronavirus/australian-covid-19-patients-developed-resistance-to-antiviral-drug-as-virus-mutates-within-days-of-first-treatment-study-finds--c-6001171" target="_blank" rel="noopener">7News</a></em>.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“I don’t think the infrastructure is in place to capture the resistance. We need better surveillance.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">Since the research was published, GSK, the manufacturer of Sotrovimab, has confirmed that the study’s findings were consistent with the company’s large clinical studies.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“Resistance is also seen in studies for other COVID-19 monoclonal antibodies and oral treatments, and relates to how the immune system interacts with the virus,” a spokesperson said, per <em>7News.com.au</em>.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“This report does not change the positive benefit-risk of sotrovimab for use in the treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 in patients at high risk of progression.”</p>
<p><span id="docs-internal-guid-7f583be8-7fff-e05d-5e6b-eef460dbcdaf"></span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p>
