Eli Lilly and Co said on Wednesday that its combination antibody therapy to fight COVID-19 reduced the risk of hospitalization and death by 87% in a study of more than 750 high-risk COVID-19 patients.
It is the second large, late-stage study to show that combination therapy of two antibodies, bamlanivimab and etesevimab, is effective at treating mild to moderate cases of COVID-19.
The previous study, which published data in January, used a higher dose of the drugs and reduced risk of hospitalization by 70%.
“I expect this data to continue to drive more utilization” of the antibodies,” said Daniel Skovronsky, chief scientific officer at Eli Lilly.
“We have few other diseases where we have drugs that can offer this magnitude of benefit.”
U.S. regulators authorized the combination therapy in February for use in COVID-19 patients 12 and over with a high risk of developing serious complications. European regulators greenlighted its use in March.
The United States agreed in February to purchase a minimum of 100,000 doses of the combination treatment.
