In an unusual on-site study, a major drugmaker has begun testing an experimental antibody drug in nursing home and assisted living community staff members and residents who have been exposed to the coronavirus.
Eli Lilly has partnered with long-term care operator Symphony Care Network and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the late-stage clinical trial. Acting in response to outbreaks, the company will send a mobile research fleet to Symphony’s long-term care facilities across the United States, the drugmaker announced Monday. The fleet includes recreational vehicles retrofitted as drug infusion sites and trailer trucks to deliver supplies.
To help “minimize the burden” on operators, additional staff will be deployed to assist the Symphony facilities where the research occurs, Eli Lilly added.
Investigators aim to test whether their experimental monoclonal antibody can be effective once exposure has occurred in a facility. Although this type of antibody may be used as a preventive and as a treatment in other diseases, it’s not yet apparent whether it will be effective in fighting SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
If this and other near-term trials succeed, antibody treatment may serve as an early intervention to keep COVID-19 infections from becoming severe until a vaccine is approved, NIAID Director Anthony Fauci said in a Monday interview with JAMA Network. “I think we’re going to get some important data” in the next few months, he said of this and other near-term studies.
The current research recognizes the vulnerability of eldercare facility residents, said Symphony Care Network’s Alexander Stemer, M.D., an infectious disease expert and co-chair of the company’s COVID-19 task force. “As the scientific community searches for safe and effective therapies for COVID-19, we are proud to participate in this leading-edge study given its potential to save lives.”
Eli Lilly, meanwhile, gave a nod to the complications of an on-site study.
“While it’s not easy to conduct clinical trials in this setting, we’re taking on the challenge in an effort to help those who need us the most,” said Daniel Skovronsky, M.D., Ph.D., the company’s chief scientific officer and president of Lilly Research Laboratories. “[W]e are deeply appreciative of the care facilities, their staff and the many residents who will be participating in this important study.”
The antibody, LY-CoV555, is directed at the distinctive spike protein of the coronavirus, potentially neutralizing it, the drugmaker says.
