Key Highlights:
- A novel monoclonal antibody treatment protects chronically ill adults from COVID-19.
- Provent is not the first clinical trial to examine AZD7442 but it is the first to produce encouraging results.
- The Provent trial’s preliminary data analysis comprises six months of follow-up, with another nine months of observation to come.
Protecting Susceptible patients
A novel monoclonal antibody treatment that protects chronically ill adults from COVID-19 has been discovered. The results of the Phase 3 trial show that the new antibody cocktail, administered by intramuscular injection, might provide protection for up to 12 months.
Antibodies are the front-line troops of our immune system. They continually circulate about a body, looking for the virus they’ve been trained to seek for.
In early 2020, Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers focused on a few of especially powerful antibodies obtained from some of the first COVID-19 patients. AstraZeneca, a pharmaceutical firm, licensed the antibodies and developed monoclonal antibody therapies to prevent symptomatic COVID-19 infections.
The new therapy is known as AZD7442, and according to AstraZeneca’s recent clinical trial results, it might play a key role in protecting the most susceptible from severe COVID-19.
The Provent Trial
The findings of a trial named Provent, which began in late 2020, were just announced by the firm. The study included approximately 5,000 people, with a focus on those who were most at risk of developing severe COVID-19, either because of a chronic pre-existing disease or because they were immunocompromised.
The new findings are based on a preliminary analysis of the recently finished study and have not yet been peer-reviewed or published in a journal. The trial found no occurrences of severe COVID-19 or mortality in individuals who received AZD7442 after a six-month follow-up period. In contrast, the placebo group experienced three severe COVID-19 instances, two of which resulted in death.
According to AstraZeneca, 25 symptomatic COVID-19 instances were found in the entire study group. AZD7442 was shown to lower the probability of symptomatic COVID-19 by 77% in chronically sick people.
Although Provent is not the first clinical trial to examine AZD7442, it is the first to produce encouraging results. Storm Chaser, another experiment, just failed to reach its primary objective.
Long-term Effectiveness
One of the features that distinguish this medication from other recent monoclonal antibody therapies under consideration for COVID-19 is the ease with which it may be administered through intramuscular injection. The potential for long-term effectiveness of this monoclonal antibody therapy is another unique characteristic.
AstraZeneca sought to improve the half-life of these monoclonal antibodies, and preliminary research suggests that a single therapy might provide effective protection for up to a year. The Provent trial’s preliminary data analysis comprises six months of follow-up, with another nine months of observation to come.
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