'The tools are getting picked off': An ever-mutating mix of COVID variants means fewer and less effective treatments this fall - Fortune

But like it or not, COVID is ramping up for a fall wave—one likely to be fueled by multiple variants, experts say, as the virus mutates and spreads exponentially.

While the coming wave may be caused by multiple variants, they may start to look increasingly similar as they mutate to become more efficient—and take the same path to achieve it.

And they may all end up with the same disastrous effect: rendering current COVID countermeasures like drugs and vaccines powerless.

Omicron spawn BA.2.75, dubbed “Centaurus,” seemed like the COVID variant to watch this summer—one with the potential to wreak havoc later in the year.

The variant is picking up mutations that make it more similar to globally dominant BA.5 and the deadly Delta variant of late 2021.

The paper, which is not yet peer reviewed but has been widely cited by experts, called the variant “the most neutralization-resistant variant evaluated to date,” and said it may effectively evade antibody immunity, built by vaccination and prior infection.

The variant is jockeying with BA.2.75.2 to lead the wave this fall, Rajnarayanan said.

Major players are beginning to pick up identical advantageous mutations as they try to gain supremacy over their rivals, according to Rajnarayanan.

It’s common for variants to garner multiple mutations—and increasingly, variants of potential concern are acquiring many of the same ones.

BA.2.75.2 is being watched for its potential to escape the immunity provided by the last antibody drug that is effective on all variants, Bebtelovimab, according to Rajnarayanan and other experts.

The variant escapes immunity from Bebtelovimab, as well as another antibody drug that only works against some variants.

Rajnarayanan worries for the future of COVID countermeasures and, like WHO officials, calls on countries to keep up testing and the genetic sequencing of samples.