(Adds detail on rival treatments)
By Yadarisa Shabong and Sachin Ravikumar
Oct 11 (Reuters) - AstraZeneca's experimental
COVID-19 drug has helped cut the risk of severe disease or death
in a late-stage study, the British drugmaker said on Monday, a
boost to its efforts to develop coronavirus medicines beyond
vaccines.
The drug, a cocktail of two antibodies called AZD7442,
reduced the risk of severe COVID-19 or death by 50% in
non-hospitalised patients who have had symptoms for seven days
or less, meeting the main goal of the study.
AstraZeneca's therapy, delivered via injection, is the first
of its kind to show promise both as a preventative medicine and
as a treatment for COVID-19 following multiple trials. It is
designed to protect people who do not have a strong enough
immune response to vaccines.
"These positive results show that a convenient intramuscular
dose of AZD7442 could play an important role in helping combat
this devastating pandemic," Hugh Montgomery, the trial's
principal investigator, said in a statement.
Similar therapies made with a class of drugs called
monoclonal antibodies are being developed by Regeneron,
Eli Lilly and GlaxoSmithKline with partner Vir
. These therapies are approved for emergency use in the
United States for treating mild-to-moderate COVID-19.
AstraZeneca, whose COVID-19 vaccine has been widely used
globally, asked U.S. regulators last week to grant emergency use
authorisation for AZD7442 as a preventative therapy.
AstraZeneca is submitting data from various AZD7442 studies
to global health regulators, a spokeswoman said on Monday.
"We'll be continuing discussions with regulators around this
new data," she said of Monday's trial results.
The trial took place across 13 countries and involved more
than 900 adult participants, with one half receiving AZD7442 and
the rest a placebo. Full trial results will be submitted for
publication in a peer-reviewed journal, AstraZeneca said.
AZD7442 contains laboratory-made antibodies designed to
linger in the body for months to contain the virus in case of an
infection. A vaccine, in contrast, relies on an intact immune
system to develop targeted antibodies and infection-fighting
cells.
"An early intervention with our antibody can give a
significant reduction in progression to severe disease, with
continued protection for more than six months," said Mene
Pangalos, executive vice president at AstraZeneca.
While Monday's results cover the use of AZD7442 in
non-hospitalised patients, a separate trial is also studying its
use as a treatment for hospitalised COVID-19 patients.
Other antibody cocktail treatments for COVID-19 have shown
varied degrees of success.
Regeneron's therapy showed 72% protection against
symptomatic infection in the first week, and 93% after that.
GSK-Vir's showed a 79% reduction in the risk of hospitalisation
or death due to any cause, while Lilly's therapy showed a 70%
reduction in viral load at day seven compared to a placebo.
(Reporting by Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru; Editing by
Saumyadeb Chakrabarty, Kirsten Donovan)
Glaxosmithkline (GSK)
Astrazeneca (AZN)