AstraZeneca announced failure to develop treatment for coronavirus

Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical group AstraZeneca announced this Tuesday the failure in the development of a treatment against the coronavirus, whose effectiveness in people exposed to the virus has not been proven.

Antibody therapy, called AZD7442, is aimed at prevent and treat disease. However, it didn’t work.

“The trial did not achieve the main objective of prevent symptomatic cases of Covid-19 after exposure to the virus, ”the company said in a statement.

The experience was in phase 3 development, that is, in large-scale clinical trials to measure its safety and efficacy.

The 1,121 people who participated of the process were adults over 18 who were not vaccinated and who had been exposed to an infected person within the previous eight days.

Treatment reduced risk of developing coronavirus with symptoms only 33 percent.

Meanwhile, always the rehearsals continue evaluate the remedy in patients before exposure to the virus and in those who have developed severe forms of the disease.

The treatment is funded by the United States government, which in turn had signed agreements with AstraZeneca to receive up to 700,000 doses by 2021. In total, the value of the agreements reached $ 726 million.

Also, in its press release, AstraZeneca indicated that discussions are underway “on the the next steps with the United States government. “

In parallel, the pharmaceutical company continues to face problems with its vaccine against Covid-19, which was suspended in several European countries after vaccinated people suffered blood problems.

A senior official of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) even felt that the best would be stop the AstraZeneca vaccine for all age groups when alternatives are available.

At the same time, a study published Monday by British health authorities indicated that two doses of the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccines protected more than 90% of those who contracted the Delta variant of the coronavirus which appeared in India.

With information from AFP.

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