Coronavirus variants are dodging antibody treatments. New lab-made options may help.

(Washington Post) In the evolutionary chess match between the coronavirus and humans, scientists’ next move can’t come soon enough for the millions of Americans relying on treatments known as monoclonal antibodies. These lab-made therapies are rapidly losing their healing power, forcing researchers around the world to devise new antibodies that are both more potent and more resistant to new variants. Some monoclonal antibodies have been rendered largely ineffective as the virus has mutated; others are expected to become so this winter if a wave of new omicron subvariants comes to dominate the pandemic landscape. For instance, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently warned that the widely used therapies Bebtelovimab and Evusheld may no longer work against some versions of the coronavirus.