The exterior of EMA, European Medicines Agency is seen in Amsterdam, Netherlands December 18, 2020. (Photo: REUTERS)

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the US Food and Drug Administration have both gone a step further and pulled recommendations for some monoclonal antibodies on the basis that Omicron and the variant's latest offshoots have likely rendered these options obsolete.

Monoclonal antibodies are designed to neutralise the SARS-CoV-2 virus by binding to the spike protein on its surface, but the virus has been evolving, causing changes in this protein, affecting how the antibodies bind to them.

The Emergency Task Force of the EMA said antiviral alternatives such as Pfizer's Paxlovid and Gilead's remdesivir can be considered, saying that they are expected to retain their activity against the emerging strains.