AstraZeneca is working on a recent drug designed to combat COVID-19, including its latest strain, XBB.1.16 or Arcturus.

The drugmaker said its recent COVID-19 drug AZD3152 could develop into available inside months because it awaits the approval of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

To date, the drug has shown promising results, with early laboratory data suggesting it could work well against the previous SARS-CoV-2 variants and the newer strains, including Arcturus.

“In virto studies demonstrated that AZD3152 neutralizes all COVID-19 variants, including Arcturus, the newest variant of concern,” AstraZeneca’s Mene Pangalos was quoted by CBS News as saying during an earnings call with investors this week.

“We hope to make AZD3152 available as a recent prophylactic treatment within the second half of this 12 months,” Pangalos added.

The drug is currently subjected to a trial called “Supernova” as scientists seek to check its capability to stop symptomatic infection in patients, especially those with weakened immune systems.

An AstraZeneca spokesperson told CBS News that the outcomes of the study are due out in September. After which, the FDA could authorize its emergency use by the top of the 12 months, in time for the autumn and winter resurgence of cases.

The drugmaker said AZD3152 may gain advantage around 2% of the population who’re unable to yield an efficient immune response from the novel coronavirus vaccines.

As of late, many doctors recommend Pfizer’s Paxlovid drug for COVID-19. A population-based study even found it effective in stopping hospitalization and death because of the virus.

Unfortunately, research showed that the drug could sometimes result in the virus getting suppressed and never eliminated in immunocompromised people.

AstraZeneca’s drug relies on a special antibody from donated B cells of people that have completely recovered from COVID-19. Thus, it’s “designed to have broader variant coverage” than other similar-purpose drugs.

Public health authorities are currently monitoring XBB.1.16, the brand new omicron subvariant able to spreading faster than previous strains. But though the variant is very contagious, it doesn’t appear to cause severe illness.

Nevertheless, experts have warned parents of the brand new strain since it could cause high fevers and pink eye or conjunctivitis in children.

“Children have more instances of red eyes. So, they’ve conjunctivitis that does not have pus since it’s viral and never bacterial. We’re also seeing higher fevers, especially in children,” infectious disease expert Dr. Aileen Marty recently said.

Published by Medicaldaily.com