Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, presides over a hearing by the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee in Washington, DC, USA, on September 23, 2020.
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A mutated and more contagious coronavirus strain first identified in South Africa is ‘disturbing’ and could pose a threat to antibody treatments used to prevent people from becoming seriously ill with Covid-19, Drs. White House health adviser Anthony Fauci said Tuesday.
New coronavirus strains first identified in the UK and South Africa have caused concern among scientists who say the mutated variant is highly contagious, although it does not appear more deadly compared to previous strains.
So far, health experts have said there is no evidence that the mutations alter the effectiveness of current vaccines. However, there is concern that the variant found in South Africa, known as 501Y.V2, is more resistant to monoclonal antibodies, which helped some people fight the virus when they were administered early in their infection.
According to talks with health experts in South Africa, Fauci said preliminary data show that the tension is a greater danger that some of the protections offered by antibody treatments will evade.
“It may have some effect on the protection of the monoclonal antibodies and maybe even for the vaccine. We do not know,” Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said during a Q&A session at Schmidt Futures said. Forum on preparedness.
He added that researchers in laboratories at the National Institutes of Health and across the country are rapidly trying to determine the possible impact of the South African tribe.
“People ask me, ‘Are you worried about that?’ “It’s not the kind of thing I worry about, but it’s the kind of thing I take very seriously, ” Fauci said.
As viruses spread, they will mutate over time as the points on their surfaces change, says the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. The 501Y.V2 variant gets its name because of the N501Y mutation found in the vein protein that the virus uses to gain access to cells in the body.
This mutation is also seen in the UK health authorities identified in December, known as B.1.1.7. Although both variants in the United Kingdom and South Africa shared the N501Y mutation, according to the World Health Organization it is different.
Fauci had earlier said the mutated Covid-19 variations could pose a risk to coronavirus therapy. Unlike vaccines that elicit an immune response that attacks different parts of the virus, monoclonal antibodies target a very specific component, Fauci told Gavin Newsom, California, in late December.
Eli Lilly, chairman and CEO, Dave Ricks, told CNBC earlier on Tuesday that he expects the company’s monoclonal antibody treatment to be effective against the variant found in the UK, although the one in South Africa could present more challenges. Eli Lilly’s drug received emergency approval in the US in November and was followed by another drug from Regeneron.
“The South African variant … is the one that is of concern. It has more dramatic mutations for the peak protein, which is the target” for these antibody products, Ricks said on ‘Squawk Box’. “Theoretically, it could evade our medicine.”
The CDC has not yet identified any strains of the 501Y.V2 variant in the United States, although according to data from the CDC, the agency found at least 72 cases with the B.1.1.7 strain found in the United Kingdom on Monday. is. .
– CNBC’s Holly Ellyatt and Kevin Stankiewicz contributed to this report.