New COVID-19 drug for omicron variant making its way to local hospitals

PITTSBURGH — The Food and Drug Administration authorized a new antibody treatment to fight the omicron variant. The new drug from Eli Lilly is now inside some hospitals in Pittsburgh.

It’s called bebtelovimab, and Allegheny Health Network confirms they received 35 doses last week.

AHN’s director of pharmacy, Arpit Mehta, said the hospital received its first supply of the new treatment last Friday. It’s a brand-new drug that targets the new version of omicron.

Mehta says the drug will help prevent hospitalizations and severe COVID-19 symptoms. But I asked why the drug isn’t being used right away.

“The idea is really to conserve it until the BA-2 variant becomes dominant because when BA-2 becomes dominate, we have no other treatment option other than the new monoclonal antibody,” said Mehta.

AHN has been using the monoclonal antibody treatment sotrovimab to treat those infected with the circulating omicron variant.

Data shows the new drug is not only effective against the original omicron variant but also omicron’s emerging mutation, BA-2

“We are prioritizing sotrovimab currently until we collect some data from the CDC and Allegheny health department and see that the BA-2 variant is more common and dominant in our area. We will be pivoting to the new treatment that’s more effective against the BA 2 variant,” said Arpit.

UPMC also received the new drug, but while the hospital is awaiting more clinical data on the drug, UPMC tells me they have an adequate supply of sotrovimab to treat those with severe omicron symptoms.

AHN said the new treatment is in limited supply, but they expect weekly shipments from the state’s health department.

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