Clinical trials have shown that a new, experimental drug given to the most seriously ill with coronavirus can prevent death.
Regeneron antiviral therapy, called REGEN-COV, has been found to save lives in cases where patients with severe symptoms of COVID-19 they do not develop antibodies on their own.
About 10.000 patients participated in the trials conducted in the United Kingdom under the guidance of the University of Oxford, from September 2020 until May this year.
It is a treatment that gives patients two artificial monoclonal antibodies, casirivimab and imdevimab, each of which attaches to a different point in the spike protein that the coronavirus uses to penetrate human cells.
The researchers found at the beginning of the clinical trials that twice as many (30%) of the virus carriers who did not develop antibodies died within 28 days of being admitted to the hospital, compared to those who developed antibodies (15%).
Administration of the antibody cocktail to those without antibodies reduced the chances of death within 28 days by 1/5. According to the researchers, these data mean that for every 100 patients in this category there will be six fewer deaths after the administration of the drug, ie the percentage of 30% becomes 24%.
In addition to preventing death, the length of stay of patients in the hospital was reduced, to be precise by four days.
It is not yet clear when the drug will be approved for use in the United Kingdom.