Eli Lilly’s combined therapy for COVID-19 reduces serious illness and death in a large study

(Reuters) – Eli Lilly and Co said on Wednesday that its combined antibody therapy to combat COVID-19 reduced the risk of hospitalization and death by 87% in a study of more than 750 high-profile COVID-19 patients. risk.

It is the second large end-stage study to show that the combined therapy of two antibodies, bamlanivimab and etesevimab, is effective in the treatment of mild to moderate cases of COVID-19.

The previous study, which published data in January, used a higher dose of the drugs and reduced the risk of hospitalization by 70%.

“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.”

US regulators authorized combination therapy in February for use in patients with COVID-19 aged 12 or older who are at high risk of developing serious complications. European regulators gave the green light for its use in March.

The United States agreed in February to purchase a minimum of 100,000 doses of the combined treatment.

Regulators authorized bamlanivimab alone for use against COVID-19 last year, and the U.S. government agreed to buy about 1.5 million doses.

Skovronsky said the combination therapy has the benefit of offering greater protection against new strains of COVID-19.

A variant of COVID-19 originally discovered in Britain has infected patients in most states in the United States and is expected to become the country’s dominant strain. (Graphic: tmsnrt.rs/34pvUyi)

“We are very confident that this combination covers all variants in the United States,” said Skovronsky, adding that Lilly is studying an additional treatment for new strains of COVID first identified in South Africa and Brazil, which have not spread to the United States. United States.

Skovronsky said Lilly is prepared to manufacture 1 million doses of the combination therapy in the coming months and is in active negotiations to provide treatment to governments around the world.