AstraZeneca drug cocktail succeeds in late-stage study to treat COVID-19

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The drug, called AZD7442, reduced the risk of developing severe COVID-19 or death by 50% in patients who had been symptomatic for seven days or less, meeting the main goal of the trial.

“An early intervention with our antibody can give a significant reduction in progression to severe disease, with continued protection for more than six months,” said Mene Pangalos, executive vice president, biopharmaceuticals R&D at AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN).

The company will discuss the data with health authorities, it added, without elaborating.

AstraZeneca is also developing the drug cocktail as a therapy to protect people who do not have a strong enough immune response to COVID-19 vaccines. It requested emergency approval from U.S. regulators for its use as a prevention drug last week.