Regeneron says early trials promising for Covid-19 treatment
The US biotech firm Regeneron said Tuesday its antibody cocktail against the coronavirus reduced viral load and recovery time in non-hospitalized Covid-19 patients during an early-stage clinical trial.
"We are highly encouraged by the robust and consistent nature of these initial data," said George Yancopoulos, the company's president and chief scientific officer.
"We have begun discussing our findings with regulatory authorities while continuing our ongoing trial," he added.
The results related to the first 275 patients recruited into Regeneron's Phase 1 trial. The patients were randomized to receive either a low-dose, high-dose or placebo of the drug, and they were also classed by whether their bodies had mounted their own antibody response or not.
The greatest treatment benefit was seen in patients who had not mounted their own effective immune response, which suggested the drug, called REGN-COV2, could act as a substitute in the absence of naturally occurring antibodies, according to Yancopoulos.
Regeneron said it would recruit 1,300 patients for the next stages of the outpatient trial. It is also concurrently running late-stage trials for hospitalized Covid-19 patients and for the drug's potential use as a prophylaxis.
https://www.france24.com/en/20200929-regeneron-says-early-trials-promising-for-covid-19-treatment
Promising. Might keep more Covid patients from dying.