The new therapy reduced hospitalization risk by 70%; it also reduced patients ’viral load and time to recover from the disease.
The combination by U.S. pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly of two synthetic antibodies reduced hospitalizations and deaths from covid-19 by 70 percent in high-risk patients with recent positive tests, the company said Tuesday.
“Bamlanivimab and etesevimab together have the potential to be a major treatment that significantly reduces hospitalizations and death in patients with high-risk COVID-19,” said Lilly Scientific Director Daniel Skovronsky.
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The results were obtained from a phase 3 trial in which 1,035 people participated.
Treatment also reduced patients ’viral load and time to recover from the disease.
Patients were assigned a placebo or a combination of 2.8 grams of each of the two antibodies.
There were 11 deaths or hospitalizations among patients receiving treatment, 2.1% of this group.
In the placebo, there were 36 deaths or hospitalizations, 7% of the group.
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Therefore, the therapy represented a 70% reduction in risk. The result was statistically significant, meaning it is unlikely to have been recorded by chance.
There were 10 deaths in total, all among patients taking placebo and none in the therapy group.
The company said it will continue to study the drug in another trial to see if lower doses would produce the same impact.
Monoclonal antibodies are versions of the body’s natural defenses made in the laboratory with the task of fighting infections.