A new study conducted by Astra Zeneca was found to be 77% effective in preventing symptomatic coronavirus in high-risk people in a key trial that could expand the range of drugs available to most exposed groups.
In a statement, the company said that the results from Astra’s study found no one in the test who received the cocktail contracted severe Covid-19 or died due to the disease. The trial started in the month of November on 5,197 participants, and the trial was looking at whether the drug could avoid infection in vulnerable groups and took place in the U.S., U.K., Belgium, France and Spain.
Astra in June said that it was in “ongoing” discussions with the U.S. government and was waiting for the results of this latest study — named Provent — before deciding how to proceed. About 25 symptomatic coronavirus infections were accumulated in the trial for the
The trial accrued 25 symptomatic Covid-19 infections for the primary analysis. The AZD7442 cocktail on a 2:1 randomized drug-to-placebo ratio were given to the volunteers. The outcome of the study will be a big relief for Astra Zeneca after another study testing whether the cocktail could prevent symptomatic coronavirus in people clearly exposed to the virus failed in June.
Mene Pangalos, executive vice president of biopharmaceuticals research and development, said in a statement, “We need additional approaches for individuals who are not adequately protected by Covid-19 vaccines.” “We are very encouraged by these efficacy and safety data in high-risk people.”
The data to regulators for potential emergency-use authorization was being prepared by the company it said. Antibody drugs are observed as a way to possibly protect people, such as cancer patients, who may not respond as well to vaccination, but the products are cumbersome to administer and scale-up is limited.
Trials for both prevention and treatment options against Covid-19 have seen mixed success. GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Vir Biotechnology Inc. received U.S. emergency-use authorization for their product in May after it showed it could keep at-risk patients from worsening, though an earlier trial for hospitalized patients failed.
The monoclonal antibody treatment for Coronavirus has been approved by the UK on Friday, giving the green signal to a drug from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Roche Holding AG
