Regeneron cocktail treatment reduces death risk in Covid patients, suggests study
The Regeneron drug already has an emergency use authorization in the US by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat mild-to-moderate Covid-19 in adults and pediatric patients.
In what is claimed to be the largest trial assessing any monoclonal antibody treatment in patients hospitalized with severe Covid-19, it was found that Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s antibody cocktail reduced the risk of death by 20%.
The results of the (Randomised Evaluation of Covid-19 Therapy) RECOVERY trial suggest that there would six fewer deaths over 28 days for every 100 patients given the REGEN-COV (casirivimab and imdevimab), which is a cocktail of two monoclonal antibodies designed to specifically block coronavirus infectivity.
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In phase 1/2 trial of the hospitalized patients, the antibody cocktail treatment rapidly reduced viral levels, lowering risks of death. It was also found that patients who got the treatment spent four days fewer in the hospital on average and less need for ventilation.
"The RECOVERY trial has shown that in patients who had not made their own antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, treating them with REGEN-COV antibodies dramatically reduced their risk of dying or being on a ventilator, and also shortened how many days they remained in the hospital," David Weinreich, M.D., executive vice president, Global Clinical Development at Regeneron said.
The RECOVERY trial was conducted by the registered clinical trials units in the Nuffield Department of Population Health in partnership with the Nuffield Department of Medicine. A grant from the University of Oxford from UK Research and Innovation/National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) supported the trial with others.
"There was, however, great uncertainty about the value of antiviral therapies in late-stage Covid-19 disease. It is wonderful to learn that even in advanced Covid-19 disease, targeting the virus can reduce mortality in patients who have failed to mount an antibody response of their own," said Sir Peter Horby, Professor of Emerging Infectious Diseases in the Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, and Joint Chief Investigator for the RECOVERY trial.
The Regeneron drug already has an emergency use authorization in the US by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat mild-to-moderate Covid-19 in adults and pediatric patients and is now looking to expand the EUA to other populations.
