Pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly said on Wednesday that its combination of two antibody drugs to fight the coronavirus reduces the risk of hospitalization and death by 87 percent.
The finding is based on a study of 769 patients with high-risk COVID-19 aged 12 years or older with mild to moderate COVID-19.
The company said that no patient who was treated with the association of bamlanivimab and etesevimab died. Four people who were in the placebo group died of coronavirus.
“I hope this data will continue to lead to greater use” of antibodies, “said Daniel Skovronsky, scientific director at Eli Lilly.
“We have few other diseases for which we have drugs that can offer this magnitude of benefit.”
This was the second large end-stage study to show that antibody therapy is effective in treating mild to moderate cases of COVID-19.
The previous study, which was unveiled in January, used a higher dose of the drugs and reduced the risk of hospitalization by 70 percent.
US regulators first authorized combination therapy in February for use in patients with COVID-19 aged 12 and over, who are at high risk of contracting a severe case of the virus.
That month, the United States agreed to purchase a minimum of 100,000 doses of the combined treatment.
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