Eli Lilly And Co (NYSE:LLY) is one of the pharmaceuticals that has been working on a treatment that will be effective against COVID-19 and its approach involves the use of an antibody. The company recently released the interim results of a clinical trial investigating its antibody called LY-CoV555.
Eli Lilly recently published interim results of a placebo-controlled clinical trial that the biopharma conducted to evaluate LY-CoV555 as a potential antibody-based treatment for COVID-19. The clinical trial had 452 patients who had been confirmed to have the coronavirus but with mild symptoms. Also, the patients involved in the clinical trial were not hospitalized. 150 of the patients involved in the study were placed in the placebo division.
The findings and what they mean as far as a rollout is concerned
The interim data revealed that LY-CoV555 was well tolerated and no serious side-effects were observed. It also revealed that patients treated with the antibody were 72% less likely to be hospitalized. Even more interesting is that the viral load in patients treated with the middle dose of the antibody drastically reduced in a period of 11 days. However, lower and higher doses did not manage to achieve the same target.
The findings were overall positive and this means that there are expectations that the antibody treatment will be brought to market. Eli Lilly revealed that it plans to pursue Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA. The company believes that the results are enough to support an approval regulatory approval for emergency use, which means that the antibody-based treatment might soon be available for mass use.
The LY-CoV555 were not actually made but were taken from the plasma of patients that have recovered from COVID-19. They are manufactured by the human body to fight off the virus. The collected antibodies are then cloned or produced artificially and subjected to clinical trials to determine whether they will be an effective treatment. The release of the LY-CoV555 antibody-based treatment into the market as soon as possible might provide the much-needed relief of leg up against the coronavirus pandemic.