Another monoclonal antibody cocktail, this one manufactured by Regeneron, has been shown to prevent COVID-19 in a phase 3 clinical trial.
The news, issued via a press release Tuesday, mirrored similar news from Eli Lilly last week that its monoclonal antibody prevented symptomatic COVID-19 infections in nursing homes.
The results represent the first 400 volunteers from the study, which is being run by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The volunteers were at high risk of infection because they lived in the same household as a COVID-19 patient. Half the patients received a placebo, and the other half received 1.2 grams of casirivimab and imdevimab, Regeneron’s antibodies.
The trial showed that although eight of the 223 patients in the placebo group developed symptoms of COVID-19 and tested positive for the virus, none of the 186 patients who received the antibodies did. In addition, participants who received the antibody also were less 50% likely to be asymptomatic carriers of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, according to the results.
In related news, a drug developed to fight multiple myeloma has proven to be 27.5 times more effective at treating COVID-19 than remdesivir, according to laboratory studies with infected human lung and kidney cells.
The drug, plitidepsin, also was effective at fighting COVID-19 in lab mice and has gone through a Phase II trial against COVID-19 and is awaiting a Phase III trial. Full results were published in the journal Science.
