Laboratory analysis of the antibody-based COVID-19 therapy GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is developing with US partner Vir has indicated the drug is effective against the new omicron variant, the British drugmaker said on Thursday. A GSK statement said that lab tests and a study on hamsters have demonstrated the sotrovimab antibody cocktail to work against viruses that were bio-engineered to carry a number of hallmark mutations of the Omicron variant.