New late-stage trial data show Regeneron and Roche’s antibody cocktail against COVID-19 cut hospitalisation or death by 70% versus a placebo in non-hospitalised patients, Reuters reports the Swiss drugmaker said. The shot, consisting of casirivimab and imdevimab antibodies developed by Regeneron with financial help from the US government, also met all key secondary endpoints in the phase III trial with 4,567 participants, including reducing symptom duration to 10 days from 14, Roche said.
Roche, which is making the drug at plants in California and which is responsible for sales outside the US, and Regeneron are expecting hundreds of millions in sales in 2021 from the drug, including $260m alone to the US government in the first quarter.
“New infections continue to rise globally with over 3m reported cases last week, so this investigational antibody cocktail may offer hope as a potential new therapy to high-risk patients – particularly in light of recent evidence showing that casirivimab and imdevimab together retain activity against key emerging variants,” Roche chief medical officer Levi Garraway said.
Roche has said that it and Regeneron can produce more than 2m doses annually.
Reuters reports that the cocktail, which data previously showed has been effective against variants, has emergency approval in the US, and has been authorised in Europe for use in non-hospitalised patients. Former US President Donald Trump got the treatment when he was infected with COVID-19.
[link url="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-roche-hldg/regeneron-and-roches-antibody-cocktail-shown-helping-in-covid-19-cases-idUSKBN2BF0IG"]Full Reuters report (Open access)[/link]
[link url="https://investor.regeneron.com/news-releases/news-release-details/phase-3-trial-shows-regen-covtm-casirivimab-imdevimab-antibody"]Regeneron trial material [/link]
See also MedicalBrief archives:
[link url="https://www.medicalbrief.co.za/archives/fda-emergency-authorisation-for-regenerons-experimental-antibody-given-to-trump/"]FDA emergency authorisation for Regeneron’s experimental antibody given to Trump[/link]
[link url="https://www.medicalbrief.co.za/archives/exotics-hog-the-headlines-but-its-an-old-workhorse-that-has-done-the-covid-19-job/"]Exotics hog the headlines but it’s an old workhorse that has done the COVID-19 job[/link]