Pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly said Wednesday that its combination of two antibody drugs to fight coronavirus reduces the risk of hospitalization and death by 87 percent.
The finding is based on a study of 769 patients with high-risk COVID-19 aged 12 years and older with mild to moderate COVID-19.
The company said no patients died who were treated with the combination of bamlanivimab and etesevimab. Four people who were part of the placebo group died from the coronavirus.
“I hope this data will continue to drive greater use” of antibodies, “said Daniel Skovronsky, scientific director of Eli Lilly.
“We have few other diseases where we have drugs that can offer that magnitude of benefits.”
This was the second major end-of-phase study that demonstrated that antibody therapy is effective in treating mild to moderate cases of COVID-19.
The previous study, which was revealed in January, used a higher dose of medication and reduced the risk of hospitalization by 70 percent.
U.S. regulators first authorized combination therapy in February for use in COVID-19 patients 12 years of age and older who were at high risk for a severe case of the virus.
That month, the United States agreed to buy a minimum of 100,000 doses of the combination treatment.
With publishing cables