The company Eli Lilly said on Wednesday that its cocktail of monoclonal antibodies reduced hospitalizations for COVID-19 by 70% for high-risk patients.
What is happening?
Eli Lilly released the results of an advanced stage study on Tuesday, showing that its cocktail – called bamlanivimab – combined with the monoclonal antibody called etesevimab can reduce hospitalizations for high-risk COVID-19 patients.
- According to USA Today, the drug “mimics one of the natural antibodies that the immune system uses to fight the virus”.
The study said that 10% of patients who received a placebo went to the hospital. Meanwhile, 2% of those who received the full cocktail had to go to the hospital, according to USA Today. It is a 70% drop.
- The patients involved in the study were diagnosed with COVID-19 four days before being treated with the drug, according to USA Today.
- None of the 518 patients who received the cocktail died of COVID-19. Eight people who took the placebo died.
The drug is FDA approved
In November, the US Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization for monoclonal antibody therapy.
The treatment was the first to be authorized for the treatment of COVID-19.
- “Monoclonal antibodies are proteins made in the laboratory that mimic the ability of the immune system to fight harmful antigens, such as viruses. Bamlanivimab is a monoclonal antibody that is specifically directed against the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, designed to block virus binding and entry into human cells, ”said the FDA in a statement.
- “The FDA’s emergency authorization for bamlanivimab provides health professionals at the forefront of this pandemic with another potential tool in the treatment of patients with COVID-19,” said Dr. Patrizia Cavazzoni, then interim director of the Center for Evaluation and Research of FDA Medicines, in the declaration. “We will continue to evaluate new data on the safety and efficacy of bamlanivimab as it becomes available.”