Eli Lilly’s COVID-19 Antibody Drug reduces rate of hospitalization in coronavirus patients, suggests interim data

U.S.-based drugmaker Eli Lilly, on Wednesday, announced promising results of its antibody-drug as the drug demonstrated a reduction in the rate of hospitalization for the mild to moderate cases of COVID-19 infection. The announcement comes at a time when several people ad authorities are scrutinizing antibody-based drugs as a potential path to a viable coronavirus vaccine.

The drugmaker said it had tested three different doses of the antibody-drug, LY-CoV555, in a placebo-controlled trial, which involved 450 participants. One dose was of 700 mg, the second dose of 2,800 mg, and the third dose of 7,000 micrograms. The second dose showed higher efficiency and met the objective of the trial to reduce the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in a patient’s body 11 days from the date of administration. The other two doses were insufficient in meeting the requirement.

Daniel Skovronsky, Chief Scientific Officer and President of Lilly Research Labs, said, “These interim data from the BLAZE-1 trial suggest that LY-CoV555, an antibody specifically directed against SARS-CoV-2, has a direct antiviral effect and may reduce COVID-related hospitalizations. The results reinforce our conviction that neutralizing antibodies can help in the fight against COVID-19.”

LY-CoV555 is a monoclonal antibody drug that blocks the surface attachment of the virus and prevents its entry into the human cells and thereby neutralizes the virus. This could potentially prevent and treat the COVID-19 causing virus. The antibody was developed through an association of Eli Lilly and AbCeller and was screened from a blood sample of an early COVID-19 patient of the U.S. who had recovered from the infection.

Eli Lilly’s shares were trading 2.6% higher in the pre-market trading soon after the news broke out. Eli Lilly is one of the companies developing a drug based on antibody after Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and GlaxoSmithKline.