Preclinical discovery and development of the casirivimab + imdevimab cocktail for the treatment of novel coronavirus infection: the rise and fall.
Marco TuccoriIrma ConvertinoSara FerraroEmiliano CappelloGiulia ValdiserraGiulia de LucaMassimo FranchiniDaniele FocosiPublished in: Expert opinion on drug discovery (2022)
Unfortunately, results from clinical trials highlighted a very limited efficacy in inpatients; furthermore, the current evidence with regards to its lack of effectiveness against the current dominant VOC (omicron) suggests a very limited use of these drugs in the future. In the authors' opinion, this story reminds us of the limitations of mAb therapies in pandemic settings, and of the inferiority of monoclonal versus polyclonal antibody-based therapeutics in such scenarios.