19-10-2022, 12:33 AM
It’s one of multiple XBB offspring being eyed by variant trackers globally that are helping fuel Singapore’s wave—despite a significantly vaccinated and boostered population.
Both XBB and BQ.1.1 are known to escape antibody immunity, rendering useless monoclonal antibody treatments used in high-risk individuals with COVID.
According to a study last month out of Peking University’s Biomedical Pioneering Innovation Center in China, both escape immunity from Bebtelovimab, the last monoclonal antibody drug that is effective on all variants, as well as Evusheld, which works on some. And both could lead to more severe symptoms, the authors wrote.
BQ.1.1 and XBB are so distinct from other Omicron strains that they should be granted new Greek letter names, like Pi or Rho, by the World Health Organization, Topol told Fortune last week.
https://fortune.com/well/2022/10/18/is-x...-new-york/
Both XBB and BQ.1.1 are known to escape antibody immunity, rendering useless monoclonal antibody treatments used in high-risk individuals with COVID.
According to a study last month out of Peking University’s Biomedical Pioneering Innovation Center in China, both escape immunity from Bebtelovimab, the last monoclonal antibody drug that is effective on all variants, as well as Evusheld, which works on some. And both could lead to more severe symptoms, the authors wrote.
BQ.1.1 and XBB are so distinct from other Omicron strains that they should be granted new Greek letter names, like Pi or Rho, by the World Health Organization, Topol told Fortune last week.
https://fortune.com/well/2022/10/18/is-x...-new-york/
