Eli Lilly says antibody drug ‘may reduce hospitalisations’ for Covid-19
- Interim trial data suggests the experimental treatment has ‘a direct antiviral effect’ on patients with mild and moderate symptoms, according to company
- It’s designed to block the coronavirus from entering human cells, neutralise it and potentially treat the disease
The drug maker tested three different doses of the monoclonal antibody treatment, LY-CoV555, against a placebo in a trial involving people who had recently been diagnosed with the disease.
Antibodies are proteins the body makes in response to invasion by a foreign substance such as a virus. The experimental drug is designed to work against the spike protein of Sars-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes Covid-19, by blocking the virus from entering human cells, neutralising it and potentially preventing and treating the disease.
It was manufactured in a laboratory from a blood sample taken from one of the first US patients who recovered from Covid-19.
For the trial, which began in June, 452 people were recruited who had been recently diagnosed with Covid-19 but were not seriously ill or in hospital. Five of the 302 patients who were given the drug were later admitted to hospital, while nine of the 150 placebo patients ended up in hospital.
That suggested a 72 per cent reduction in the risk of being admitted to hospital for patients given the antibody drug compared to those given the placebo, Eli Lilly said.
