Novel Blue Light Treatment Effective Against Omicron

A biotechnology company today announced successful results from a series of in vitro (in an artificial environment) experiments targeting Omicron and other SARS-CoV-2 variants.

EmitBio’s patented blue light biotechnology platform eliminated 99.99% of the Omicron variant in the laboratory setting. The Company’s technology has also proven effective, with no loss in potency, against all other SARS-CoV-2 variants tested to date including Delta.

Results from this work are available in preprint on bioRxiv and have been submitted for peer review.  Conducted with live virus in assays similar to those used to assess virus neutralization with antibodies, these findings support EmitBio’s published pre-clinical and clinical findings that visible blue light may provide the only non-systemic, at-home treatment option for COVID-19 that works on all coronavirus variants. 

Recent reports illustrate select monoclonal antibody therapies are more than one-thousand times less effective against Omicron, leading to the decision by the FDA to limit emergency use of certain antibody therapies which have no impact on this variant. 

“From early in the pandemic, we recognized that effective treatments were needed.  EmitBio developed the RD-X19, an easy-to-use, at-home device delivering precisely engineered blue light to treat COVID-19,” stated Dave Emerson, CEO, EmitBio. “Unlike monoclonal antibodies, this biotechnology platform has been effective on all variants tested, including Delta and Omicron. We believe it will be effective on all future variants and aim to make this important option widely available, both during the pandemic and as we learn to live with this virus and other microbial threats for years to come.”

EmitBio continues the development of its investigational device RD-X19 in randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials which the company believes will further validate these in vitro results in subjects with COVID-19. One multi-site, US trial studying more than 200 subjects with mild to moderate COVID-19 completed enrollment in December 2021, with readout expected in the first quarter of 2022. This trial included all new infections, including subjects with breakthrough infections who were previously vaccinated. In addition, genetic sequencing confirms this trial predominantly contains subjects infected with Delta and Omicron variants.

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