On Dec. 7, GlaxoSmithKline (Glaxo) and Vir Biotechnology announced an update to preclinical data concerning bioRxiv1, a preprint server, demonstrating that sotrovimab, an investigational monoclonal antibody, retains in vitro activity against the full known Omicron spike protein, the new SARS-CoV-2 variant. This news comes directly from a press release authored by the two pharmaceutical companies.

                By                    Yaёl Bizouati-Kennedy

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Perhaps as a result, Bloomberg reports that shares of Vir Biotechnology, the drug’s co-developer, were up as much as 5.2% on the Nasdaq. Shares of Glaxo rose 0.2% in London after a study showed that the U.K. company’s vaccine — developed with Medicago — showed efficacy against several variants of Covid.

 “From the outset of our collaboration with Vir we hypothesized that sotrovimab would have a high barrier to resistance and thus could deliver best-in-class potential for the early treatment of patients with COVID-19,” Dr. Hal Barron, chief scientific officer and president of R&D for Glaxo, said via the announcement. “These pre-clinical data demonstrate the potential for our monoclonal antibody to be effective against the latest variant, Omicron, plus all other variants of concern defined to date by the WHO, and we look forward to discussing these results with regulatory authorities around the world.”

“The latest in-vitro results from Vir’s partner, GlaxoSmithKline, could hint that Trucchio was right,” Speights said. “It’s possible that Vir could profit significantly if the two companies’ COVID-19 antibody therapy sotrovimab proves to be effective against Omicron.”

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Speights added, however, that investors shouldn’t “get the cart before the horse.”

“There are early signs that the Omicron variant typically results in only mild cases of COVID-19. If so, infected individuals could be less likely to require treatment with an intravenous infusion such as sotrovimab,” he said. “Also, new COVID-19 pills from Merck and Pfizer should soon be available. These pills could negatively impact the sales for sotrovimab and other COVID-19 antibody therapies. Vir could be a winner with the emergence of Omicron, but perhaps not as big of a winner as some expect.”

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