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News Forum - New Covid-19 treatment from AstraZeneca could make “significant difference”


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Studies show that a new Covid-19 antibody treatment from AstraZeneca offers 83% protection over 6 months. According to a Reuters report, the pharmaceutical giant says the new treatment could offer hope to people who don’t respond well to vaccines. Executive Vice President Mene Pangalos says the evidence shows it could make a significant difference. “These new data add to the growing body of evidence supporting AZD7442’s potential to make a significant difference in the prevention and treatment of Covid-19.” The treatment, known as AZD7442 or Evusheld, is administered via injection. An earlier study in August showed it offered 77% protection […]

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It's a great extra tool for the ones who have seen an adverse reaction to a vaccine. But by itself it will also have adverse reactions for some. Time will tell.

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On target again.....from the American Cancer Society

 

Monoclonal antibodies are given intravenously (injected into a vein). The antibodies themselves are proteins, so giving them can sometimes cause something like an allergic reaction. This is more common while the drug is first being given. Possible side effects can include:

  • Fever
  • Chills
  • Weakness
  • Headache
  • Nausea
  • Vomiting
  • Diarrhea
  • Low blood pressure
  • Rashes

Compared with chemotherapy drugs, naked mAbs tend to have fewer serious side effects. But they can still cause problems in some people. Some mAbs can have side effects that are related to the antigens they target. For example:

  • Bevacizumab (Avastin) is an mAb that targets a protein called VEGF that affects tumor blood vessel growth. It can cause side effects such as high blood pressure, bleeding, poor wound healing, blood clots, and kidney damage.
  • Cetuximab (Erbitux) is an antibody that targets a cell protein called EGFR, which is found on normal skin cells (as well as some types of cancer cells). This drug can cause serious rashes in some people.

 

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The article states that the target customers for this AZ treatment are those who have "problems" with vaccines, there is 2 problems with that approach:

1) "Problems with Vaccines". How do you know if someone has a problem with the covid vaccines, until they do? Aside from some common allergic-type reactions, which are temporary, transient, and often not life-threatening, the other reactions that some people have to the vaccines (especially mRNA and DNA vector(AZ)), are very serious such as clots (thus the nickname by some, "Clot Shots"), and thrombocytopenia (possibly secondary to the initial clotting, via DIC (Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation). Long-term side effects are possible and suspected, but are unknown because they have not had long enough time to be tested (they have only been used/tested 10 months now, not for years like is usual for vaccines).

2) Preventatively? Expensive. The only problem with monoclonal antibiodies, other than having to be infused via an IV (not just injected with a syringe), is that they tend to be very expensive (thousands of dollars, not baht). They are too cost-prohibitive to be used preventatively, unless you are very wealthy. 

Monoclonal antibodies are great, and they are probably safer than the AZ vaccine or the mRNA vaccines (the inactivated virus vaccines tend to be quite safe). And since 95% of people who get Covid have only mild symptoms, reserving the Monoclonal Ab's for the other 5% of the population is tricky, because Monoclonal Ab's are also most effective if used within the first 1-5 days of infection, so you shouldn't wait until someone is needing oxygen or a ventilator before using it-- much less effective. You don't know if someone will be in the 95% group versus the 5% group that is in danger, until about 5+ days into the Covid infection.

So, the target customers for Monoclonal Ab's should be who are at high risk of dying WHEN they catch, for example, old age, or if other family members did not do well (died/hospitalized) when they got Covid (genetics play a part in how well a person recovers from Covid), not beforehand. 

Also, Monoclonal Ab's effectiveness is ~6 months only (as stated in the article), but that is about what the vaccines are providing anyway. It is now known as fact, that the effectiveness of the vaccines wanes within a few months. The reason for this is that Covid is a coronavirus (not all viruses are in the same family, nor fully function in the same way as other families of viruses). No EFFECTIVE effective vaccine for a coronavirus before-- all previous attempts at making one for a coronavirus have been failures.

To mitigate the allergic-type effects of the Monoclonal Ab's, pre-medicate with an anti-histamine (H1 type) and this helps a lot. You cannot pre-medicate with these prior to giving a vaccine because you need to elicit a reaction from the person's body, when using vaccines, but you don't need to with Monoclonal Ab's.

Maybe what they mean by "people who don't respond well to vaccines" is not so much "problems" as much as ineffectiveness, as happens sometimes in older people.

Edited by Xinlee
Second thought
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