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.
The results were called "very encouraging" by Stephen Evans, a professor of pharmacoepidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
"These are the first antiviral drugs that have been shown to work during the first phase of the disease, just after the virus has infected a person but before it has had time to cause damage," he said. -he adds.
Biotechnology company Regeneron has announced positive interim results for its phase 3 trial on REGEN-COV, a combination of two antibodies, for preventive use, that is to say even before it there is virus infection.
- Great potential -
Regarding the treatment of Eli Lilly, the results mean that the phase 3 trial in which 1,035 people participated has achieved its main objective;
the study also met its secondary goals of reducing patients' viral load and their recovery time.
Patients received either a 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.
“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 drug company said it would continue to study the treatment in another trial to see if a lower dose produced the same effect.
A peer review article is still awaited.
- Logistical difficulties -
These antibodies are a laboratory-made version of the human body's immune system.
At Regeneron, the data analyzed relates to around 400 patients, half of whom received 1.2 grams of the treatment by subcutaneous injection, the other half a placebo.
Of the 223 patients who received the placebo, eight were later infected with Covid-19 while exhibiting symptoms, which was not the case for any of the 186 people who received REGEN-COV, a reduction 100% of symptomatic infections.
The treatment also reduced the overall rate of infection, with or without symptoms, by 50%.
"These data on the use of REGEN-COV as a passive vaccine suggest that it may both reduce the transmission of the virus and reduce the viral load and the disease burden in those who are still infected," said George. Yancopoulos, the president of Regeneron.
Giving synthetic antibodies can help people who are at risk of getting seriously ill because of poor immunity or a history of medical conditions.
Several scientists have praised their potential against Covid, and Eli Lilly and 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 his press release, Eli 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