Drug for Covid-19 Shows Some Early Promise
Eli Lilly claims its monoclonal antibody is lowering Covid-19 hospitalizations in trial
The drug company Eli Lilly released some early data on a drug they are studying for Covid-19 that’s called a monoclonal antibody. These are man-made antibodies — developed from the antibodies of someone who recovered from Covid-19 — that are used by the immune system to fight the virus. According to the data released by the company (note, not peer-reviewed) it appears the drug helped people sick with Covid-19 lower the levels of SARS-CoV-2 in their bloodstream and may have prevented hospitalizations.
The data from the company says that over 450 people who were newly diagnosed with Covid-19 received either the monoclonal antibody infusion or a placebo infusion. About 1.7% of the people who got the drug were hospitalized compared to 6% of people who got the placebo.
You can read more about the study here.
Until there is a vaccine, there’s hope that antibodies produced in a lab could work as a stop-gap treatment for Covid-19. The antibodies would ideally help the body mount an immune response to the virus and fight off the infection. You can read more about monoclonal antibody efforts for Covid-19 below.
