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Regeneron said on Tuesday that its cocktail of monoclonal antibodies prevented Covid-19 in a clinical trial.
The news, released via a press release, reflected similar news from Eli Lilly last week that her monoclonal antibody was preventing symptomatic Covid-19 infections in nursing homes.
The results represent the first 400 volunteers in the study, which is being conducted by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and continues to recruit patients. The volunteers were at high risk of infection because they lived in the same household as a Covid-19 patient. Half of the patients received a placebo and the other half received 1.2 grams of casirivimab and imdevimab, the antibodies to Regeneron.
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While eight of the 223 patients in the placebo group developed symptoms of Covid and tested positive for the virus, none of the 186 patients who received the antibody did. The volunteers who received the antibody were also less likely to be asymptomatic carriers of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes Covid-19. Twenty-three volunteers in the placebo group tested positive for the virus, compared to 10 in the antibody group, a reduction of 50%.
It also appeared that infections in volunteers who received the antibody were less severe than those who did not, the company said. The infected volunteers in the placebo group had an average maximum viral load more than 100 times higher. Infections in the antibody group did not last longer than a week, while 40% of infections in the placebo group lasted for three to four weeks.
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Adverse events were less common in those who received the antibody cocktail, occurring at 18% in the placebo group and 12% in the antibody group. This was the result of the negative effects of the virus. Two percent of those in both groups had injection site reactions.
George Yancopoulos, scientific director of Regeneron, said in a statement that even with vaccines available, the antibody could help break the chain of infection and could prove useful for people who are immunocompromised or unable to be vaccinated.
Regeneron was able to formulate the antibody so that it could be given by injection, instead of being given intravenously. This would make the antibody much easier for healthcare workers to administer.
The results have not been peer reviewed or published in an academic journal.
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