AstraZeneca drug cocktail succeeds in late-stage study to treat Covid-19

[BENGALURU] AstraZeneca's experimental Covid-19 antibody drug cocktail succeeded in reducing severe disease or death in non-hospitalised patients in a late-stage study, the British drugmaker said on Monday.

The drug, called AZD7442, reduced the risk of developing severe Covid-19 or death by 50 per cent in patients who had been symptomatic for 7 days or less, meeting the main goal of the trial.

"An early intervention with our antibody can give a significant reduction in progression to severe disease, with continued protection for more than 6 months," said Mene Pangalos, executive vice-president, biopharmaceuticals R&D at AstraZeneca.

The company will discuss the data with health authorities, it added, without elaborating.

AstraZeneca is also developing the drug cocktail as a therapy to protect people who do not have a strong enough immune response to Covid-19 vaccines. It requested emergency approval from US regulators for its use as a prevention drug last week.

REUTERS