Corona drugs: What helps against the new variant?

Created: 2022-01-21Updated: 2022-01-21 05:03

A nurse takes medication from a stand.

© Marijan Murat/dpa

Two years after the first corona cases in Germany, the pandemic with Omikron is again developing a dramatic dynamic.

Many had relied on vaccination - and on new drugs.

Munich – Since the first corona patients in Germany were treated in Munich almost two years ago, the virus has mutated noticeably.

The new variant Omikron spread particularly quickly.

It has been modified in such a way that those who have been vaccinated and those who have recovered are infected more often than with the Delta variant.

In addition, certain medications, which have been developed at great expense, fail at Omikron.

But some newer preparations give hope.

According to a study published in the specialist magazine "Cell" in which German teams from Göttingen, Hanover, Braunschweig and Erlangen were involved, several preparations at Omikron seem to be losing their effectiveness.

According to a statement from the University of Erlangen, this involves most of the approved drugs based on antibodies that are effective against earlier variants.

The body produces antibodies after a vaccination or infection.

You can bind to the virus and turn it off.

Antibodies can also be bioengineered to treat infected people.

Because the omicron virus has changed significantly compared to earlier variants, antibodies - endogenous or manufactured as a drug - can no longer fight the infection as well.

Reduced effectiveness with Omikron?

Casirivimab and Imdevimab, Etesevimab and Bamlanivimab: Initially, hope rested on these antibody preparations.

If given early, they should prevent severe courses.

The effect is now reduced on Omicron.

According to studies, however, the new antibody preparation Sotrovimab Omikron inhibits.

This is also recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The chief physician of infectiology at the Munich Clinic Schwabing, Clemens Wendtner, who treated the first corona patients in Germany in 2020, still sees the drug "toolbox" as better filled than ever before. The promising drug Sotrovimab should be available for inpatient therapy at the end of January. "There is also a clear perspective here."

While the administration of antibodies only helps in an early phase of the disease, the anti-inflammatory dexamethasone remains the standard treatment later in severe cases.

Interleukin-6 antagonists, which also block the inflammatory reaction and which were originally developed for rheumatic diseases, and so-called Janus kinase inhibitors such as baricitinib are also administered.

This remedy has also been used for Covid-19 for some time and is now also recommended by the WHO.

Blood thinners are also administered to prevent thrombosis, strokes and heart attacks.

Pills against Corona

Hopes rest on new antiviral drugs such as Paxlovid and Molnupiravir - the first pills against Corona, which should be available on prescription in pharmacies in a few weeks.

That makes him optimistic, says Wendtner.

"There has been a quantum leap."

The pandemic officer at the Klinikum Rechts der Isar of the Technical University of Munich, Christoph Spinner, also sees good opportunities in the new drugs.

Molnupiravir is "taken as a capsule twice a day for five days and is also effective against the omicron variant." Paxlovid will soon be added as a further oral therapy option.

According to Spinner, it also protects against omicrons - and up to 90 percent against severe courses.

According to Spinner, remdesivir, originally developed against the Ebola virus and approved against Corona in 2020, will continue to be used.

"It also works against omicrons and showed in a new study an approximately 80 percent protection against severe courses." Unlike oral therapy with Paxlovid and Molnupiravir, Remdesivir must continue to be given intravenously as a short infusion.

But that's on an outpatient basis.

The federal government had secured remdesivir stocks for Germany.

Now he's buying a million units of Paxlovid.

The new pills - Paxlovid and Molnupiravir - are expensive.

The five-day treatment costs around $700.

The tablets must also be taken early to slow down the virus.

Vaccination remains the most effective means

Above all, as a preventive measure, the antibody preparation Evusheld should be used - which, according to the manufacturer Astrazeneca, is also effective against omicron.

Unlike previous antibodies, it does not have to be administered via a vein in the hospital, but can be injected once into the muscle.

"It works for six months," explains Wendtner, but warns that this is an alternative to vaccination.

The drug is considerably more expensive, but above all it does not stimulate the body to form its own antibodies.

It is only suitable for people who cannot tolerate a vaccination or cannot form antibodies.

Vaccination remains the most effective means, experts emphasize again and again.

more on the subject

Omicron study: Booster vaccination does not protect against corona variants in the long term

Anti-Covid pill: Government buys 1 million packs

Paxlovid and Molnupiravir: Corona drugs in comparison - which one is better?

The federal government had secured 150,000 doses of the antibody drug Ronapreve (Casirivimab and Imdevimab), for which the Paul Ehrlich Institute at Omikron also sees reduced effectiveness.

Then the funds were hardly used on the heap.

The expiry date was getting closer when it experienced a revival in prophylaxis in people who were particularly at risk.

It is now clear: "This antibody is a phased-out model, it will no longer be possible to use it at Omikron," says Wendtner.

How many cans are still stored in cupboards is an open question.

In the meantime, work on new medicines continues under high pressure.

For example, the Technical University of Munich (TUM) is researching a spray that is intended to curb lung damage from Covid-19.

dpa