Antibody cocktail: US trials of new COVID-19 drug

On Thursday, June 11, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals announced the start of the first clinical trial of its experimental drug based on antibodies to coronavirus, writes CNBC.

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The “cocktail” of antibodies will be tested on four groups of volunteers. Two of them will receive the drug to test its effectiveness in treating COVID-19; two more will be given the drug for possible disease prevention.

"Hopefully we'll get safety testing done quickly and then we'll start to understand the effectiveness of the variants in this fight against the virus," said Regeneron chief scientific officer Dr. George Yancopoulos.

According to him, “if everything goes well,” the company can get “accurate data” on the effectiveness of the drug for several months.

“In my opinion, there are a lot of reasons for hope,” Yancopoulos said, while noting the company's work in the fight against Ebola. But he also pointed to the unpredictable nature of science and biology, emphasizing that “there are always reasons for concern and caution.”

“So we will move forward very carefully, working closely with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). We hope that sooner rather than later we will be able to get answers that can really change the situation,” he is confident.

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Regeneron is the latest company to begin testing a potential treatment for COVID-19. While Eli Lilly and Company began testing its drug in early June and promises treatment as early as September if the trials go well. So far, in scientific studies, the antiviral drug Remdesivir from Gilead Sciences has been the only one to demonstrate some effectiveness in treating coronavirus infection.

There are more than 7,4 million confirmed cases of coronavirus worldwide, including more than 2 million in the United States, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University. An estimated 417 people died worldwide, more than a quarter of them in the United States.

According to Yankopoulos, Regeneron is tested on four different types of patients, including the "most sick patients" who are hospitalized and receive mechanical ventilation or oxygen. In addition, testing is underway to find out if the medicine can prevent the infection of people at high risk, such as health workers.

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The drug, known as REGN-COV2, is a combination of two antibodies. Yankopoulos said: Regeneron strongly believes that this is the right approach to treating COVID-19.

“As is the case with conventional antiviral drugs, the drug may initially provide great benefit, but in the future it can lead to the selection and development of mutant viruses that can be very dangerous,” explained Regeneron’s chief scientific officer. “We show that a cocktail of antibodies is needed to prevent this.”

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