A treatment for Covid-19 patients, but not for everyone. Produced by an American laboratory, it has so far been reserved for the United States, to the chagrin of French caregivers and patients, while the therapeutic alternatives are reduced in the face of new variants of the virus.
He is not the only one to ring the alarm bell, but the Scientific Council, created in March 2020 to fight against Covid-19, has just asked the French government, in its final opinion published on Wednesday, “to put everything implemented so that bebtelovimab, the only monoclonal antibody active on BA.5 currently, is available as quickly as possible in France”.
Positive clinical results
What is it about ? Bebtelovimab is an experimental monoclonal antibody, that is to say not yet officially placed on the market. In March, however, US health authorities granted it so-called emergency clearance, after positive results from a clinical study in patients with mild to moderate symptoms of Covid-19. “Bebtelovimab is a monoclonal antibody that targets the mutated “spike” protein of the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of Omicron particularly well,” Professor Antoine Flahault, director of the Institute of Health, told AFP. of the University of Geneva.
However, it is almost one of the few remaining in the panoply of potential treatments, most of the antibodies used since the start of the pandemic having subsequently proved to be less effective against Omicron variants. “It is indicated for patients who are particularly vulnerable and at very high risk of severe complications from Covid-19, in particular immunocompromised patients due to their illness or their immunosuppressive treatments”, adds Antoine Flahault.
Only for Americans
Problem: the Eli Lilly laboratory only offers it to American patients. The US government placed an initial order for 600 million doses in February, before ordering an additional 150 million doses at the end of June. “The company maintains permanent and open communication with health authorities around the world, in order to understand the local need for this antibody, bebtelovimab, which remains experimental for the time being,” replied Eli Lilly, contacted by AFP.
However, “in Europe, with regard to the available data considered preliminary (…), the Lilly group does not plan either to set up a phase III clinical trial, or to make bebtelovimab available within the framework of a clinical trial, nor in the long term the submission of a request for marketing authorization for this product”, she adds, without giving the reasons.
A position that does not pass
Because the seventh wave of the Covid-19 pandemic continues to claim victims. “This drug can save lives, it is not a comfort drug. Consideration should be given to making it a global public good in order to make it available to very vulnerable patients who could benefit from it throughout the world,” argues Professor Flahault.
For their part, researchers from the French Agency for Research on AIDS and Viral Hepatitis (ANRS) have launched a plea for obtaining doses of bebtelovimab for the most vulnerable patients.
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