Regeneron's Antibody Cocktail Helps Prevent Symptomatic COVID Infections

Regeneron announced that the results of a Phase 3 clinical trial show that its antibody cocktail helps prevent symptomatic COVID-19 infections. The company said that the drug, named REGEN-COV, reduced the risk of symptomatic infections by 81%.

The drug cocktail was granted an emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration to treat high-risk, non-hospitalized patients with mild to moderate symptoms of COVID-19. That treatment was only approved to be given intravenously.

Regeneron said it is going to apply for an expansion of the emergency use authorization to include the new treatment, which is administered using a subcutaneous shot.

"COVID-19 transmission often occurs via infected people who do not yet have symptoms, so it is critical that we rapidly diagnose and treat these individuals for their own health and to prevent transmission," said Katharine Bar, M.D., co-principal investigator of the trial and Assistant Professor of Medicine, Infectious Diseases, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. "These data pave the way for REGEN-COV to be used before patients become symptomatic, with a more convenient subcutaneous administration."

The company said that the cocktail, which uses a combination of casirivimab with imdevimab, appears to be effective against variants of the coronavirus, including B.1.1.7, which has become the dominant strain in the United States.

Photo: Getty Images


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