(Reuters) – Eli Lilly and Co said on Wednesday that combination therapy with antibodies to COVID-19 reduced the risk of hospitalization and death by 87% in a study of more than 750 patients at high risk of COVID-19 .
It is the second large-scale, late-stage study showing that the combination therapy of two antibodies, bamlanivimab and etesevimab, is effective in treating mild to moderate cases of COVID-19.
The previous study, which published data in January, used a higher dose of medication and reduced the risk of hospitalization by 70%.
“I expect this data to continue to lead to greater use of antibodies,” said Daniel Skovronsky, chief executive of Eli Lilly.
“We have few other diseases in which we have drugs that can provide this magnitude of benefits.”
U.S. regulators authorized combination therapy in February for use in COVID-19 patients over the age of 12 at high risk of developing serious complications. European regulators approved its use in March.
The United States agreed in February to buy at least 100,000 doses of the combination treatment.
Regulators only authorized bamlanivimab for use against COVID-19 last year, and the US government agreed to buy nearly 1.5 million doses.
Skovronsky said that combination therapy has the advantage of providing greater protection against new strains of COVID-19.
A variant of COVID-19 initially discovered in the UK has infected patients in most US states and is expected to become the country’s dominant strain. (Chart: tmsnrt.rs/34pvUyi)
“We are quite confident that this combo covers all US variants,” said Skovronsky, adding that Lilly is studying additional treatment for the new COVID strains first identified in South Africa and Brazil, which have not spread to the United States.
Skovronsky said Lilly is ready to manufacture 1 million doses of combination therapy in the coming months and is in active talks to provide treatment to governments around the world.
Reporting by Carl O’Donnell and Michael Erman in New York; Edited by Lisa Shumaker