Former US president Donald Trump was given a cocktail of two antibodies REGEN-COV when he got infected with SARS-CoV-2. According to a new study, this cocktail can help in preventing hospitalisation in Covid-19 patients, who are at a higher risk of complications. REGEN-COV is developed by US-based biotechnology company Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. Now, it was even granted emergency use authorisation by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in November last year. It is basically helpful for people with mild-to-moderate infection, who are not on oxygen support but might be at a risk of serious complications.
The study was published in Lancet’s EClinical Medicine journal. In this research, 1,400 patients Covid-19 infected patients were studied. Out of these patients, 696 received the antibody combination between December 2020 and April. On the other hand, some people did not receive it. In the new study, researchers observed patients 14, 21 and 28 days after the treatment. They found out that the numbers for hospitalisation were lesser in that group.
And after 14 days, 1.3 percent of the same treated group was hospitalised, in comparison to the 3.3 percent people who were not given the treatment. After 21 days, only 1.3 percent of those who were treated were hospitalised, while 4.2 percent of those who were not treated. At the end of 28 days, 1.6 per cent of those who were treated were hospitalised, while 4.8 per cent of those who had not been treated were in the hospital.
Also read: COVID-19 Antibodies Are Detectable In The Body For Over 6 Months After Getting Infected
REGEN-COV is a combo of two monoclonal antibodies including casirivimab and imdevimab and these have been granted emergency use authorisation by the US Food and Drug Administration. The research concluded that there was a 60 to 70 percent reduction in hospitalisation in treated patients of Covid. And, the patients who were subsequently hospitalised, the number of ICU admitted people and mortality rate were low. In the phase 3 clinical trials of REGEN-COV, the findings were that the risk of Covid-19 hospitalisations and deaths was lesser by 70 percent in patients who had mild-to-moderate symptoms.
Raymund Razonable, an infectious diseases specialist at Mayo Clinic and senior author of the study, said in a statement that, “Once again, this real-world study suggests that when patients who are at high risk due to a range of comorbidities contract a mild or moderate case of Covid-19, this combination of monoclonal injections gives them a chance of a non-hospitalized recovery. In other words, they recover safely at home."
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Image credits:
- Theguardian
- Bioworld
