Nursing home residents who received the drug – known as LY-CoV555, also called bamlanivimab – had an up to 80% lower risk of contracting symptomatic Covid-19 compared to residents at the same institution who received placebo, according to pharmacist Eli Lilly .
Eli Lilly will now consider asking FDA regulators to extend the authorized emergency use of the drug, not only to treat Covid-19, but also to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in long-term care facilities where someone can have tested positive for the disease.
“We are happy that bamlanivimab is now available as a treatment for patients at high risk of progression to severe COVID-19 disease or hospitalization, including those in nursing homes, and we look forward to working with regulators to explore the expansion of emergency use authorization. to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in these facilities, “said Dr. Daniel Skovronsky, Lilly’s scientific director and president of Lilly’s Research Laboratories, in the company’s press release on Thursday.
“We are exceptionally satisfied with these positive results, which showed that bamlanivimab was able to help prevent COVID-19 by substantially reducing symptomatic illness among asylum residents, some of the most vulnerable members of our society,” said Skovronsky.
The study included 1,097 residents and employees of long-term care facilities who were randomly assigned 4,200 milligrams of bamlanivimab or a placebo.
The results of the trial showed that after eight weeks, only among residents in the study who originally tested negative for Covid-19, four died of the disease – but all deaths occurred in residents who received a placebo. There were no Covid-19 deaths among residents who received bamlanivimab, the company’s announcement said.
Among only those residents who originally tested positive, four people also died, but all were given a placebo and there were no deaths among those who received bamlanivimab, the ad noted.
Throughout the trial, there were a total of 16 deaths reported, including deaths unrelated to Covid-19, and all deaths were among residents, not members of the team, according to the announcement. Eleven of those deaths occurred among people who received a placebo and five among those who received therapy.
“The antiviral activity seen with bamlanivimab treatment emphasizes the importance of early intervention to help contain the devastating impact the virus has had on this vulnerable population and other high-risk patients,” Dr. Myron Cohen, co-investigator and principal from the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said in Eli Lilly’s announcement on Thursday.
“These results exceed our expectations, demonstrating that this class of treatments can be used both to prevent and to treat diseases,” said Cammack in the statement.
“Reducing the risk of obtaining Covid-19 by up to 80% would be remarkable and could have a dramatic impact on outbreaks among the most vulnerable groups globally,” said Cammack in part. “Monoclonal antibodies are traditionally the most expensive treatment class in the world. Covid-19 must be the pivotal moment where they move from the rich world to the whole world and become part of conventional therapy.”
Studies show that these treatments can prevent high-risk patients with Covid-19 from developing severe symptoms, although health officials say that not enough treatments have been used.
CNN’s Jen Christensen contributed to this report.