The closest thing to a COVID 'cure'? Eli Lilly's combination antibody drug cuts the risk of COVID-19

[mystery-ak]

The closest thing to a COVID 'cure'? Eli Lilly's combination antibody drug cuts the risk of COVID-19 hospitalization and death by 87%, study finds

    The combination treatment, a mixture of two drugs, recognizes the coronavirus and attaches to it, preventing it from spreading throughout the body 
    Half a group of 769 mild-to-moderate COVID-19 patients at high risk of severe illness were given the drugs and another half given the placebo
    There four hospitalizations and zero deaths among the patients given the treatment and 11 hospitalizations and four deaths among the placebo group
    Researchers determined the combination therapy reduced the risk of hospitalization and death by 87 percent compared to a placebo
    Last month, the U.S. agreed to buy 100,000 doses of the antibody therapy, expected to be delivered by the end of the month, for $210 million

By Mary Kekatos Senior Health Reporter For Dailymail.com

Published: 15:57 EST, 10 March 2021 | Updated: 16:07 EST, 10 March 2021

Eli Lilly & Co says its combination antibody therapy is effective at treating mild to moderate cases of COVID-19.

The treatment, a mixture of drugs bamlanivimab and etesevimab, was developed by Indianapolis-based Lilly and the Canadian company AbCellera.

It recognizes the virus once a person is infected and attaches to it, preventing the pathogen from entering human cells, and therefore neutralizing it.

more
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-9347813/Eli-Lillys-combination-antibody-therapy-COVID-19-cuts-risk-hospitalization-death-87.html

[Hoodat]

This surpasses the 50% fatality reduction obtained using hydroxychloroquine.

[PeteS in CA]

Lilly's bamlanivimab and etesevimab together reduced hospitalizations and death in Phase 3 trial for early COVID-19

http://lilly.mediaroom.com/2021-03-10-Lillys-bamlanivimab-and-etesevimab-together-reduced-hospitalizations-and-death-in-Phase-3-trial-for-early-COVID-19

INDIANAPOLIS, March 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) today announced new data from the randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled BLAZE-1 Phase 3 study, demonstrating bamlanivimab (LY-CoV555) 700 mg and etesevimab (LY-CoV016) 1400 mg together significantly reduced COVID-19 related hospitalizations and deaths ("events") in high-risk patients recently diagnosed with COVID-19. These results provide additional efficacy and safety data that support the use of the dose recently granted both Emergency Use Authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and a positive scientific opinion by the European Medicines Agency's (EMA) Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP).

This new Phase 3 cohort of BLAZE-1 included 769 high-risk patients, aged 12 and older with mild to moderate COVID-19 (therapy: n=511; placebo: n=258). There were four events in patients taking bamlanivimab with etesevimab and 15 events in patients taking placebo, representing an 87 percent risk reduction (p<0.0001). Bamlanivimab and etesevimab together also demonstrated statistically significant improvements on key secondary endpoints. These results are consistent with those seen in other data sets from BLAZE-1: in the previous Phase 3 cohort, bamlanivimab 2800 mg with etesevimab 2800 mg reduced the risk of hospitalizations and deaths by 70 percent and in the Phase 2 cohort, bamlanivimab alone reduced the risk of hospitalizations and ER visits by approximately 70 percent. The viral load reductions were also consistent with what was observed in the previous Phase 3 cohort of the study.

In this new Phase 3 cohort, there were four deaths total, all of which were deemed related to COVID-19 and all of which occurred in patients taking placebo; no deaths occurred in patients receiving treatment with bamlanivimab and etesevimab together. Across the two Phase 3 cohorts of the study that have been analyzed to date, there have been no deaths in patients receiving treatment with bamlanivimab and etesevimab together, and 14 deaths in patients receiving placebo, 13 of which were deemed COVID-19 related. In this data set, the safety profile of bamlanivimab and etesevimab together was consistent with observations from other Phase 1, Phase 2 and Phase 3 trials evaluating these antibodies.

I don't like Daily Mail's silver-bullet-like language, but most Brit papers are tabloids. Effectiveness is more complex than an on-off switch.

Bamlanivimab alone received EUA several months ago. While, used properly, it is effective, the combination with etesevimab apparently is even more so. Regeneron took the same approach in its two-mab "cocktail". "Mab" = monoclonal antibody.