INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Pharmacist Eli Lilly said Thursday that his antibody drug can prevent COVID-19 disease in residents and residential staff and other long-term care settings.
It is the first major study to show that this treatment can prevent disease in a group that has been devastated by the pandemic.
Residents and staff who took the drug had up to a 57% lower risk of contracting COVID-19 compared with other people in the same facility who obtained a placebo, the drug maker said. Only among residential residents, the risk was reduced by up to 80%.
The study involved more than 1,000 residents and staff from nursing homes and other long-term care settings, such as nursing homes. The vast majority tested negative at the start of the study. Some were assigned to obtain the drug, which is administered through an IV, and others received placebo infusions.
The research was conducted with the National Institutes of Health. The results were published in a press release and the company said it would publish more details in a newspaper soon.
Among the nearly 300 residents who did not have COVID-19, four later suffered from the disease and died. Lilly said they had all received the placebo.
The Food and Drug Administration in November allowed emergency use of the antibody drug Lilly as a treatment for people 12 years of age or older with mild to moderate cases of COVID-19 that do not require hospitalization. It is a one-time treatment.
Lilly said she plans to work with regulators to expand authorization to prevent and treat COVID-19 in long-term care centers, where vaccinations are already underway.
Experts have said drugs like Lilly’s could serve as a bridge to help control the virus until vaccines are widely available.
Nursing homes and other long-term care centers have been hard hit by the pandemic. In the United States, they account for less than 1% of the population, but nearly 40% of COVID-19 deaths.
These long-term care sites have been prioritized for vaccinating residents and staff with newly authorized COVID-19 vaccines. Vaccinations began last month in locations across the country.
The two vaccines approved for emergency use by Pfizer and Moderna require two doses. Major pharmacy chains CVS and Walgreens are shooting nursing homes in almost every state.
Companies said they expect to finish the first doses in nursing homes this month. Vaccination programs in nursing homes are expected to be largely completed in February and March. Progress has been slower in other long-term places, such as assisted living, where residents need less medical care than those in residences.
There will still be a need for Lilly’s medicine in places like nursing homes, even though vaccines are already being distributed there, said Steve Brozak, president of WBB Securities, which follows the pharmaceutical industry.
But Brozak wondered how long the treatment could be effective if new variants of the virus appeared.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department is supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.