(Alliance News) - GlaxoSmithKline PLC and partner Vir Biotechnology Inc on Thursday said they will seek emergency approval for a Covid-19 antibody therapy.
The duo's probe on VIR-7831 found the monoclonal antibody reduces hospitalisation and deaths by 85% compared to patients taking a placebo. This was based on analysis of 583 patients in the phase 3 COMET-ICE trial.
They now plan to "immediately" seek emergency use authorisation in the US as well approvals elsewhere.
In addition, GSK noted a separate trial found that VIR-7831 is still effective against other variants of the virus.
The west London based pharmaceutical firm said: "The companies also announced today the results of a new study submitted and pending online publication in bioRxiv, demonstrating that VIR-7831 maintains activity against current circulating variants of concern including the UK, South African and Brazilian variants, based on in vitro data from pseudotyped virus assays. In contrast to other monoclonal antibodies, VIR-7831 binds to a highly conserved epitope of the spike protein, which may make it more difficult for resistance to develop."
By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com
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Glaxosmithkline (GSK)