DEVELOPING Defence rests without Donald Trump taking the witness stand in his New York hush money trial
Donald Trump's lawyers rested their defence Tuesday without the former president taking the witness stand in his New York hush money trial.
A new study suggests that current antiviral pills being used to treat COVID-19 remain effective against the highly transmissible Omicron variant, while intravenous antibody drugs appear to be "substantially" less successful.
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison report that the drugs behind the new oral pills have proved successful in lab tests, and say it would be "welcome news" if the anti-viral pills are confirmed to work against Omicron in human patients.
However, lab tests also revealed that the currently available antibody therapies, which are typically given intravenously in hospitals, are less effective against Omicron than earlier variants of the virus.
The researchers say some antibodies showed to have "entirely lost their ability to neutralize Omicron at realistic dosages."
The findings, published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, are in line with other studies that show most available antibody treatments are less effective against Omicron, according to researchers.
"The bottom line is we have countermeasures to treat Omicron. That's good news," said lead author and virologist Yoshihiro Kawaoka in a press release. "However, this is all in laboratory studies. Whether this translates into humans, we don't know yet."
Data has shown that various antiviral pills, including from Pfizer and Merck, can help reduce the severity of COVID-19 in at-risk patients if taken early in the course of infection. Experts say approval of such medication could help decrease the burden of the pandemic on hospitals.
Researchers note that COVID-19 antiviral pills were designed and tested before the Omicron variant was identified. Data has shown the Omicron variant is more heavily mutated than earlier versions of the virus, meaning it can spread more readily and even evade antibodies from prior infection or vaccination.
However, the findings suggest that mutational differences do not reduce the effectiveness of drugs designed to treat the original virus strain.
In lab experiments using non-human primate cells, researchers tested multiple antibody and antiviral therapies against the original strain of COVID-19, as well as some of its prominent variants, including Alpha, Delta and Omicron.
According to the study, Merck's antiviral pill molnupiravir and the intravenous drug remdesivir were just as successful against the Omicron variant as they were against earlier virus strains.
Instead of testing Pfizer's oral Paxlovid pill, the study's authors analyzed a related drug by Pfizer that is given intravenously and currently in clinical trials. Researchers found that both drugs disrupted the same part of the "viral machinery," retaining their effectiveness against Omicron.
However, researchers say the tested antibody treatments were overall less effective against Omicron than antiviral pills.
Two antibody treatments -- sotrovimab by GlaxoSmithKline and Evusheld by AstraZeneca -- retained some ability to neutralize the virus, but required anywhere from three to 100 times more of the drugs to do so, according to the study.
The study found antibody treatments by Lilly and Regeneron were also unable to neutralize Omicron at their regular dosages.
Researchers say these results are expected given the different mutations in the Omicron variant's spike protein.
The study notes that most antibody treatments were designed to bind to and neutralize the original spike protein, and any major changes to the protein can make the antibodies less likely to attach.
In comparison, antiviral pills for COVID-19 target the "molecular machinery" the virus uses to make copies of itself once inside cells. Data shows the Omicron variant only has a few mutations to this machinery, which makes it more likely that these drugs will retain their ability to disrupt the replication process, researchers say.
While the effectiveness of the antiviral pills against Omicron is "welcome news," researchers say global health agencies cannot currently use the medication as a common treatment for COVID-19 due to limited supply.
The study's authors say they are now focused on testing new antibody candidates in an attempt to identify those that could potentially neutralize the Omicron variant.
Public health officials around the world have been working to approve anti-COVID pills, with Health Canada authorizing the use of Pfizer's antiviral treatment earlier this month.
The federal health agency says Paxlovid is the first oral and at-home prescription medication to be cleared for use in Canada, and can be given to adults ages 18 and older to treat mild to moderate cases of COVID-19, if they have a confirmed positive test and are at a high risk of becoming seriously ill.
Health Canada has also been reviewing Merck's molnupiravir pill since mid August.
In late December, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization for both Pfizer and Merck’s drugs.
Donald Trump's lawyers rested their defence Tuesday without the former president taking the witness stand in his New York hush money trial.
One passenger was killed and 30 injured after a Singapore Airlines SIAL.SI flight from London hit severe turbulence en route on Tuesday, forcing it to make an emergency landing in Bangkok, officials and the airline said.
Anything is possible this week, as far as Canada's weather is concerned, with forecasts ranging from scorching heat in some parts of the country to rain and snow in others.
Canada's annual inflation rate slowed to a three-year low of 2.7 per cent in April, matching expectations, and core measures continued to ease, data showed on Tuesday, likely boosting chances of a June interest rate cut.
Donald Trump's reelection campaign called 'The Apprentice,' a film about the former U.S. president in the 1980s, 'pure fiction' and vowed legal action following its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. But director Ali Abbasi is offering to privately screen the film for Trump.
Nestle NESN.S will market a new, US$5 line of frozen pizzas and protein-enriched pastas in the United States which it says it designed specifically for people taking drugs such as Wegovy or Ozempic for weight loss.
If you've been to a party lately and haven't seen someone drinking a BORG, you're likely not partying with college students.
As the month-long boycott of Loblaw-owned stores wears on, small independent food retailers and alternative grocery options say they're seeing a boost in traffic and sales.
Prince Harry can't expand his privacy lawsuit against The Sun tabloid publisher to include allegations that Rupert Murdoch and some other executives were part of an effort to conceal and destroy evidence of unlawful information gathering, a London judge ruled Tuesday.
For those who go to their local libraries often, they know there’s much more to their library than just borrowing books. Local libraries in Atlantic Canada are now renting out a broader range of items for people.
Flashes of purple darting across the sky mixed with the serenading sound of songs will be noticed more with spring in full force in Manitoba.
Catching 'em all with impressive speed, a 7-year-old boy from Windsor, Ont. who only started his competitive Pokémon journey seven months ago has already levelled up to compete at a world championship level.
A sanctuary dedicated to animals with disabilities is celebrating the third birthday of one of its most popular residents.
2b Theatre recently moved into the old Video Difference building, seeking to transform it into an artistic hub, meeting space, and temporary housing unit for visiting performers in Halifax.
A B.C. woman says her service dog pulled her from a lake moments before she had a seizure, saving her life.
A Starbucks fan — whose name is Winter — is visiting Canada on a purposeful journey that began with a random idea at one of the coffee chain's stores in Texas.
Members of Piapot First Nation, students from the University of Winnipeg and various other professionals are learning new techniques that will hopefully be used for ground searches of potential unmarked grave sites in the future.
ALS patient Mathew Brown said he’s hopeful for future ALS patients after news this week of research at Western University of a potential cure for ALS.