“EMA fast-tracks review of AstraZeneca’s sipavibart to stop Covid” (Reuters, 2024.07.02):
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has accepted AstraZeneca‘s marketing authorisation application for sipavibart as Covid-19 pre-exposure prophylaxis (preventive treatment) in immunocompromised patients, under an accelerated assessment approach.
A long-acting antibody, sipavibart has been designed to neutralise the spike protein interaction with the ACE2 receptor, providing protection from Omicron and other ancestral viral variants.
If you would like to consider this new gift of Science(TM), here’s more food for thought about monoclonal antibody therapies from the times when the medical profession still harbored some traces of benevolence toward Humanity. “The safety and side effects of monoclonal antibodies” (Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2010 Apr.9,325-38):
…administration of mAbs carries the risk of immune reactions such as acute anaphylaxis, serum sickness and the generation of antibodies. In addition, there are numerous adverse effects of mAbs that are related to their specific targets, including infections and cancer, autoimmune disease, and organ-specific adverse events such as cardiotoxicity.
The immunocompromised can’t wait for these additional benefits of the drug, right?
Back to the question what "Sip-a-Vib-Art" name is actually trying to convey us? I come empty-handed. Please help!
It’s a phrase in an obscure dialect from New Guinea that means “milk the Covid nonsense for every penny it’s worth”.
The name sipavibart appears to have been chosen by the developers, RQ Bio. I didn't find any clues about its genesis but RQ Bio's virologist, Paul Hallam, turns out to be one of a tight-knit group with a history of research on HIV, SARS, MERS, Ebola etc, and which has supplied many members of we now call the "zoo crew" because of their stubborn refusal to entertain any other source for SARS-COV-2 than zoonosis.
https://www.sanger.ac.uk/person/kellam-paul/