By Nancy Lapid
(Reuters) -The following is a summary of the latest scientific studies on the new coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.
Treatments with autoimmune diseases may reduce the vaccine’s reactions
Immunosuppressive agents for inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and ulcerative colitis can affect the body’s response to the COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna, according to new data. In 133 people who were fully vaccinated with such conditions, the antibody level and virus neutralization were about three times lower than in a comparison group of vaccines who did not use the drug, researchers reported on medRxiv on Friday before peer review. Most patients in the study “were able to elicit antibody response in response to SARS-CoV-2 vaccination, which is reassuring,” said co-author Alfred Kim of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Louis said. It is not yet clear whether reduced antibody levels will lead to reduced protection against infection or hospitalization, Kim said. He says in particular that the ten-fold reduction in antibody-induced antibodies is seen in patients who regularly use steroids, such as prednisone and methylprednisolone, and a 36-fold reduction seen with drugs that deplete B cells, including Roche’s Rituxan (rituximab) and Ocrevus (ocrelizumab). The reduction in antibody levels was modest with class-following rheumatoid arthritis drugs known as TNF inhibitors, such as Abbvie’s Humira (adalimumab) and Amgen’s Enbrel (etanercept); antimetabolites such as methotrexate and sulfasalazine; JAK inhibitors such as Pfizer’s Xeljanz (tofacitinib), intestinal specific drugs such as Takeda Pharmaceutical Co’s Entyvio (vedolizumab), and IL-12/23 inhibitors, including Johnson & Johnson’s Stelara (ustekinumab). (https://bit.ly/2QmzRiY)
Most antibody products are ineffective against the Brazilian variant
The coronavirus variant, first identified in Brazil, known as P.1, is resistant to three of the four emergency drug treatments in the United States, according to a laboratory study. In test tube experiments, researchers exposed the P.1 variant to various monoclonal antibodies, including the four currently used to treat U.S. COVID-19 patients – imdevimab and casirivimab from Regneron Pharmaceuticals, and bamlanivimab and meal vimab from Eli Lilly and Co . Only imdevimab retained any strength, researchers found. The neutralizing ability of the other three has been ‘noticeably or completely abolished’, according to a peer-reviewed report available on bioRxiv and tentatively accepted by Cell Host & Microbe magazine. The researchers also exposed P.1 to plasma from COVID-19 survivors and blood from recipients of Pfizer / BioNTech or Moderna vaccines. Compared to its effects against the original version of the coronavirus, plasma and vaccine-induced antibodies were less effective at neutralizing P.1. In earlier studies, however, they were even less effective against the B.1.351 variant first identified in South Africa. This suggests that the Brazilian variant may not pose as great a threat to reinfection or diminished vaccine protection as the South African variant, said co-author David Ho of Columbia University. Real-world evidence is needed to confirm the lab results, he said. (https://bit.ly/2Qgv4j1)
South African variant could ‘break through’ Pfizer vaccine
The B.1.351 coronavirus variant discovered in South Africa could “break through” Pfizer / BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine protection to some extent, Israeli researchers have found. They compared nearly 400 people who tested positive for COVID-19 after one or two doses of the vaccine compared to the same number of similar people with COVID-19 who had not been vaccinated. The prevalence of the variant in Israel is low, and overall it was about 1% of all COVID-19 cases in the study. However, among those who received both doses of the vaccine, a greater proportion of COVID-19 infections were caused by B.1.351. The “excessively higher rate” of the South African variant in the fully vaccinated group (5.4%) compared to the rate in the non-vaccinated group (0.7%) “means that the South African variant “To some extent, it is capable of vaccine protection,” said Adi Stern, Tel Aviv University. was to derive the total vaccine efficacy against any variant, as it only looked at people who had already tested positive for COVID-19, not overall infection, rates in the community (https://bit.ly/ 3sdVzCR; https://reut.rs/32aqvt0)
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(Reporting by Nancy Lapid and Maayan Lubell; Editing by Bill Berkrot)