TAMPA, Fla. — Tempers flared Tuesday over monoclonal antibody treatments.
"We're going to fight back against this," said Governor Ron DeSantis.
"These treatments, the ones that they're fighting over, that the governor is fighting over, do not work against omicron," said White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki.
This comes after the FDA announced that treatments from Eli Lilly and Regeneron were no longer allowed to be used. And while the news may shock some, Dr. Michael Teng, an associate Health Professor at USF, said the medical community saw this coming.
"We've known for over a month now that these antibodies don't neutralize the virus in a lab setting," he said.
And while these treatments are being pulled, he also added that the companies behind them are likely already working on replacements.
"To be fair Regeneron and Eli Lilly have libraries full of these antibodies and I know that they're testing them right now to see which ones work on omicron," he said.
In the meantime, there are alternatives. AstraZeneca and GSK both have antibody treatments that are working. And Pfizer and Merck have COVID pills. Dr. Teng said the only barrier to those right now, is the supply.
"You know, they're trying to ramp up production," he said.
And as we wait for that to change, Dr. Teng said we should all focus on prevention.
"Well so these monoclonals don't work but do know that the vaccines still work, masks still work. There's still lots of great ways at preventing infection," he said.