AstraZeneca said Oct. 11 that its antibody cocktail significantly reduced the chance of severe COVID-19 and death during a 903-participant trial.
Five things to know:
- The treatment, named AZD7442, is a combination of tixagevimab and cilgavimab.
- Participants who received 600 milligrams of AZD7442 were 50 percent less likely to develop severe COVID-19 or die from any cause compared to the placebo group.
- The trial participants had been symptomatic for seven days or fewer and were randomized 1:1 when split into the AZD7442 and placebo arms. Ninety percent of participants were from populations at high risk of progressing to severe COVID-19.
- In August, AstraZeneca said AZD7442 was 77 percent effective in preventing symptomatic COVID-19 during a 5,197-participant trial. On Oct. 5, the drugmaker filed for FDA emergency use authorization for the antibody cocktail's use as a preventive treatment of symptomatic COVID-19.
- If authorized, AZD7442 would be the first antibody drug cleared for COVID-19 prevention.