As controlling the hyper transmissible Delta variant has become vital to end the Covid-19 pandemic, health authorities worldwide are scrambling to secure antibody treatments against the virus variant.
REGEN-COV (casirivimab/imdevimab), jointly developed by Roche and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, became the first therapy to demonstrate effectiveness against the Delta variant, first identified in India and now detected in at least 98 countries.
Industry watchers are paying attention to whether Korea will introduce the cocktail treatment.
Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) Commissioner Jeong Eun-kyeong warned the public of the Delta variant, fast spreading in the greater Seoul area, in her special address on Friday.
The Delta variant has become the dominant coronavirus strain even in highly vaccinated countries such as the U.K., Israel, and the U.S., and the end of the pandemic will hinge on the control of the Delta variant, she said.
The U.S. and Europe are searching for detailed strategies to contain the Delta variant.
On Thursday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that the Delta variant was detected across the nation. The White House also announced that it would operate special teams to fight the highly contagious virus variant.
The U.S. government is also aggressively pushing to introduce an antibody treatment verified to work against the Delta variant.
The CDC and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have recommended using the antibody cocktail therapy REGEN-COV first for Covid-19 patients infected with the Delta variant.
The European Commission recently announced four promising antibody treatments for Covid-19 patients.
The four are Eli Lilly’s cocktail of bamlanivimab and etesevimab, Celltrion’s regdanivimab, Roche and Regeneron’s cocktail of casirivimab, and imdevimab (REGEN-COV), and GSK and Vir Technology’s sotrovimab.
Among them, REGEN-COV, known to have low susceptibility to virus variants, was the fastest to prove the effect against the Delta variant in a non-clinical study.
Earlier on June 16, Regeneron said, “Multiple analyses, including a recent publication in Cell, have shown that REGEN-COV retains potency against the main variants of concern circulating within the U.S.”
As its effect was maintained against the Gamma variant first identified in Brazil, the Beta variant first identified in South Africa, and the Delta variant first identified in India, REGEN-COV can be used in all 50 states of the U.S., the company said.
Whether the Korean government would consider introducing antibody treatments that work against the Delta variant, such as REGEN-COV, draws attention.