The American pharmaceutical group Eli Lilly again reported positive results on Wednesday for a treatment against Covid-19 combining two synthetic antibodies, which reduced hospitalizations and deaths by 87%, according to tests conducted by the company.
At the end of January, the company had already reported that the combination of the two antibodies, bamlanivimab and etesevimab, reduced the risk of hospitalization and death by 70%.
The dosage was then 2.8 grams each.
Read also: Covid-19: Eli Lilly's monoclonal antibody already highly contested
This time the bamlanivimab was dosed at 700 mg and the etesevimab at 1.4 grams.
The clinical trial was carried out on 769 people over 12 years old, tested positive for Covid-19, and presenting risk factors making them more likely to be affected by severe forms of Covid-19.
Of these, 511 received the treatment, and 258 received a placebo.
Among those treated with the combination of antibodies, 4 people were hospitalized and none died.
In the placebo group, 11 people were hospitalized and 4 people died from Covid-19.
This treatment has been authorized urgently in the United States since the beginning of February (in the strength of 700 mg of bamlanivimab and 1.4 grams of etesevimab), for people at risk, either because of their age or medical history.
A first treatment from the same company, this one based only on bamlanivimab, had been authorized in early November in the country.
It is he who is also authorized in France.
Finally, another cocktail of antibodies, from the Regeneron company, is also urgently authorized in the United States for people with Covid-19 and at risk of developing a severe form of the disease.
He uses antibodies called imdevimab and casirivimab.
It is this latest treatment that President Donald Trump received in early October.
These synthetic antibodies, administered intravenously, are a laboratory-made version of the human body's defenses.
The immune system naturally produces antibodies when it encounters a virus in order to get rid of it.
But increasing their numbers in frail people helps their immune system fight the virus.
