Will antibody therapies work on patients with severe COVID? Setbacks in new Lilly, Regeneron drugs raise serious doubts

Credit: Ktsdesign/Science Source
Credit: Ktsdesign/Science Source

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Eli Lilly have [reported clinical study setbacks, which] raised questions about the effectiveness of antibody therapies in patients with severe COVID-19 compared to patients with mild-to-moderate forms of the virus.

Regeneron said [October 30] it agreed to hold off on further enrollment of patients requiring high-flow oxygen or mechanical ventilation in the Phase II/III portion of an adaptive Phase I/II/III trial assessing its two-antibody “cocktail” REGN-COV2 in hospitalized adult patients with COVID-19.

Regeneron is the second developer of a leading antibody candidate against COVID-19 to suffer a clinical setback this past week. On October 26, the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) halted the up-to-10,000 patient Phase III ACTIV-3 trial it was conducting to assess the safety and effectiveness of Lilly’s LY-CoV555.

Follow the latest news and policy debates on sustainable agriculture, biomedicine, and other ‘disruptive’ innovations. Subscribe to our newsletter.

“A disappointing replication: monoclonal antibodies to #SARSCoV2 don’t provide benefit to hospitalized patients w/ moderate-severe illness,” tweeted Eric Topol, MD, founder and director of the Scripps Translational Research Institute, on [October 30].

Topol, who is also professor, molecular medicine and executive vice president of Scripps Research, added that the Regeneron and Lilly disappointments reflected “the need to treat #COVID19 early or preventatively.”

Read the original post

{{ reviewsTotal }}{{ options.labels.singularReviewCountLabel }}
{{ reviewsTotal }}{{ options.labels.pluralReviewCountLabel }}
{{ options.labels.newReviewButton }}
{{ userData.canReview.message }}
screenshot at  pm

Are pesticide residues on food something to worry about?

In 1962, Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring drew attention to pesticides and their possible dangers to humans, birds, mammals and the ...
glp menu logo outlined

Newsletter Subscription

* indicates required
Email Lists
glp menu logo outlined

Get news on human & agricultural genetics and biotechnology delivered to your inbox.