Washington (AFP)

The combination of two synthetic antibodies from the US pharmaceutical group Eli Lilly against Covid-19 has reduced hospitalizations and deaths by 70% in high-risk patients who recently tested positive for the disease, the company said on Tuesday.

“Bamlanivimab and etesevimab, together, have the potential to be an important treatment significantly reducing hospitalizations and death in high-risk Covid patients,” said group chief scientist Daniel Skovronsky.

The results mean that the phase 3 trial in which 1,035 people participated achieved its main objective;

the study also met its secondary goals of reducing patients' viral load and their recovery time.

Patients received either placebo or the bamlanivimab-etesevimab combination, both antibodies, at 2.8 grams each.

Eleven hospitalizations were recorded among the patients who received the treatment, or 2.1% of this group.

Among those who received a placebo, there were 36 deaths or hospitalizations, or 7% of this group.

The treatment therefore represents a risk reduction of 70%.

The result is statistically significant enough to mean that it is unlikely to be due to chance.

Ten deaths were recorded in all, all within the group who took a placebo.

None occurred in people who took the treatment.

The drug company said it would continue to study the treatment in another trial to see if a lower dose produced the same effect.

These antibodies are a laboratory-made version of the human body's immune system.

Several scientists have hailed their potential against Covid, and Lilly and the biotechnology company Regeneron have received emergency use authorizations for their treatments.

But the uptake of such treatment has been limited in the United States by several factors, including lack of patient interest as well as the lack of staff and logistical capacity of hospitals to administer them.

In her press release, Lilly acknowledges some of these difficulties.

"Lilly has had feedback from nurses and doctors (...) regarding the complexity and the time required to prepare and administer" the treatment, Lilly said, adding that she is working with US health authorities to potentially reduce intravenous administration time from 60 to 16 minutes.

© 2021 AFP