An unusual experiment to prevent coronavirus infection by nursing staff members and residents has been successful, pharmacist Eli Lilly announced on Thursday.
A drug containing monoclonal antibodies – virus fighters grown in the laboratory – prevented symptomatic infections in residents who were exposed to the virus, even in fragile and more vulnerable elderly people, according to preliminary results of a study conducted in partnership with the National Institutes of Health .
The researchers found an 80% reduction in infections among residents who received the drug, compared to those who received a placebo, and a 60% reduction among employees, results that were statistically powerful, Eli Lilly said.
The data have not yet been peer-reviewed or published. The company hopes to present the findings at a future medical meeting and publish them in a peer-reviewed journal, but did not say when.
The study included 965 participants in nursing homes: 666 employees and 299 residents. (The company expected more residents to participate, but it was difficult to enroll them; many had dementia and others were afraid of receiving an intravenous drug.)
There were four deaths from Covid-19 among study participants. All were among nursing home residents who received placebo, not the drug.
The drug, bamlanivimab, already has an emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration that allows Eli Lilly to supply it to symptomatic patients early in the course of their infection.
But this study asked if the drug could stop infections before they started. It was an unusual experience: in trucks equipped with mobile laboratories, the medical team rushed to the nursing homes when a single infection was detected there. As soon as the workers arrived, they set up temporary infusion centers to administer the medication.
The survey ended this weekend with an emergency meeting of the security and data monitoring board, an independent group that monitors the results received. The data was strong and convincing enough to put an end to placebos.
Vaccines for covid19>
Answers to your vaccine questions
While the exact order of vaccine recipients may vary by state, most will likely put medical professionals and residents of long-term care facilities first. If you want to understand how this decision is being made, this article will help you.
Life will only return to normal when society as a whole obtains sufficient protection against the coronavirus. Once countries authorize a vaccine, they will only be able to vaccinate a few percent of their citizens, at most, within the first two months. The unvaccinated majority will still remain vulnerable to infection. An increasing number of coronavirus vaccines are showing robust protection against disease. But it is also possible for people to spread the virus without even knowing they are infected, because they have only mild symptoms or none at all. Scientists still do not know whether vaccines also block coronavirus transmission. So for now, even vaccinated people will need to wear masks, avoid crowds indoors and so on. Once enough people are vaccinated, it will be very difficult for the coronavirus to find vulnerable people to infect. Depending on how quickly we, as a society, achieve this goal, life may begin to approach something normal in the fall of 2021.
Yes, but not forever. The two vaccines that will potentially be authorized this month clearly protect people from getting sick with Covid-19. But the clinical tests that provided these results were not designed to determine whether vaccinated people could still spread the coronavirus without developing symptoms. This remains a possibility. We know that people naturally infected with the coronavirus can transmit it as long as they have no cough or other symptoms. Researchers will be studying this issue intensively as vaccines are launched. In the meantime, even vaccinated people will need to consider possible spreaders.
The Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine is given as an injection into the arm, like other typical vaccines. The injection will be no different than the one you took before. Tens of thousands of people have already received the vaccines and none of them reported serious health problems. But some of them experienced short-term discomfort, including flu-like pain and symptoms that usually last for a day. People may need to plan a day off from work or school after the second injection. Although these experiences are not pleasant, they are a good sign: they are the result of your own immune system facing the vaccine and developing a potent response that will provide lasting immunity.
No. The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines use a genetic molecule to prepare the immune system. This molecule, known as mRNA, is eventually destroyed by the body. The mRNA is packaged in an oily bubble that can fuse with a cell, allowing the molecule to slide inward. The cell uses mRNA to make proteins from the coronavirus, which can stimulate the immune system. At any given time, each of our cells can contain hundreds of thousands of mRNA molecules, which they produce to make their own proteins. After these proteins are produced, our cells fragment the mRNA with special enzymes. The mRNA molecules that our cells make can survive just a matter of minutes. The mRNA in vaccines is designed to resist the cell’s enzymes a little more, so that cells can produce extra proteins from the virus and stimulate a stronger immune response. But mRNA can only last a few days at most, before being destroyed.
“My jaw dropped when I saw the results table,” said Dr. Myron Cohen, professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the principal investigator who helped design and implement the study.
Although the study has ended, Dr. Daniel Skovronsky, Eli Lilly’s scientific director, said the company would continue to run into asylums in its study network when an outbreak is detected. “Everyone is going to get the drug,” he said.
Experts who were not part of the study were enthusiastic, but emphasized that they had not yet seen the complete data. “I see only positive aspects here,” said Dr. Ofer Levy, director of the precision vaccine program at Boston Children’s Hospital. “This is a victory.”
Dr. Kathleen Neuzil, director of the Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health at the University of Maryland, was also encouraged.
“The effect of mortality is remarkable,” she said, adding that the drug should be used more widely to prevent and treat Covid-19, “particularly in populations such as nursing home residents, who have high mortality and may have responses below the ideal for vaccines. “
Vaccines, of course, also protect people from being infected with the virus, and nursing staff and residents were among the first priority groups for vaccines. But supplies are inadequate and many nursing home workers, fearful of vaccines, have refused to take them.
And after vaccination, it can take six weeks for the body to produce enough antibodies for maximum protection, said Dr. Srilatha Edupuganti, a vaccine researcher at Emory University in Atlanta and a study investigator.
Monoclonal antibody treatment, she said, can provide almost equivalent protection immediately, although it will not last as long as the protection offered by a vaccine.
Eli Lilly plans to approach the FDA about an emergency use authorization for the use of the drug to prevent infections in frail elderly populations, especially those in nursing homes or long-term care facilities, said Dr. Skovronsky.