The Sars-CoV-2 virus continues to infect and cause serious forms of infection especially in fragile subjects. According to the latest bulletin released by the Ministry of Health, they are 212 deaths caused by Covid in a weekabout 30 a day. For this it is necessary to use anti-Covid weapons that are still effective, such as monoclonal antibodies. «Early treatment with monoclonal and antiviral antibodies still represents the most effective strategy together with vaccination to prevent hospitalization, complications and death from Covid” he confirms Massimo Andreoniscientific director of the Italian Society of Infectious and Tropical Diseases (Simit).
«Several conditions are correlated with the risk of disease progression: advanced age, male biological sex and obesity. In addition to these factors, patients at greatest risk of developing severe disease were identified. Pathologies that directly affect the immune system, such as in the case of HIV infection, and the use of chemotherapy or immunosuppressive treatments, can lead to an increased risk of hospitalization and serious illness from Covid-19 and a poor prognosis. This is why the scientific community recommends early therapy of the infection with monoclonal antibodies for these patients at high risk of progressing to severe forms of Covid”.
Among the most effective monoclonal antibodies is sotrovimab
In frail patients, the advantage of the monoclonal antibody over antiviral drugs is that it blocks virus entry prior to entry into the host cell and potentially induces the immune reaction if cells become infected. Among the monoclonal antibodies available in Italy against Covid, and which has also maintained its effectiveness against the now dominant Omicron variant, there is the sotrovimab.
«Some monoclonals have maintained a significant effect even against the most recent subvariants of the virus, including those circulating mainly in Italy. Among them, sotrovimab appears to be the most effective,” he notes Charles Frederick Perno, director of microbiology and immunology diagnostics at the Bambino Gesù Pediatric Hospital in Rome. “Sotrovimab has the ability to stimulate an immune response which assists that of the organism and which enhances, through two cellular mechanisms, the removal and inactivation of the virus. All of these characteristics make sotrovimab a monoclonal antibody still to be taken into high consideration in the treatment of SarS CoV-2 infection”.
