Eli Lilly announced on Wednesday that its antibody drug to fight coronavirus reduced the risk of hospitalization and death from the disease by 87 percent.
In a new study of 769 high-risk COVID-19 patients, the company said that four people in the placebo group died of coronavirus. No one died who was treated with antibodies, which combines bamlanivimab and etesevimabits.
Wednesday’s announcement released the results of Eli Lilly’s second large, advanced-stage drug combination study.
The results of the previous study, released in January, found that a higher dose of the drugs reduced hospitalizations and deaths by 70 percent. Lowering the dosage for best results could help extend the supply of the drug Eli Lilly.
“This compelling data … provides healthcare professionals with additional information on the use of bamlanivimab and etesevimab together as a potentially life-saving treatment to help those most at risk for serious COVID-19 complications,” said Daniel Skovronsky, Eli’s chief scientific officer. Lilly official and president of Lilly Research Laboratories.
US regulators first approved the drug in February for use in patients with coronavirus aged 12 years or older who are at high risk of contracting a serious case of COVID-19. It was approved for use in Europe earlier this month.
The promising results come as experts express concern about the number of cases across the country. Although the total number of cases appears to have stagnated, new infectious variants of the disease have also spread across the United States.
“The consistent results observed in several cohorts of this trial over several months, even with the emergence of new strains of COVID-19, indicate that bamlanivimab with etesevimab maintains its effects against a number of variants, particularly those circulating in the USA”, said Skovronsky.