An antibody cocktail is now beginning late-stage clinical trials to evaluate the drug’s ability to prevent and treat coronavirus infection.The biotechnology company Regeneron announced the late-stage clinical trials of REGN-COV2, its investigational double antibody cocktail for the treatment and prevention of Covid-19, in a news release on Monday.Specifically the release noted that a Phase 3 trial of the drug will assess its ability to prevent coronavirus infection among uninfected people who have had close contact to an infected person, such as a patient’s housemate. The Phase 3 prevention trial is happening at around 100 sites and expected to include 2,000 patients across the United States, according to Regeneron.
Sanofi, Regeneron Shut Down Kevzara Trial in COVID-19 After Finding No Benefit For Ventilated Patients
In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sanofi and Regeneron launched an ambitious plan to try out rheumatoid arthritis med Kevzara in desperately ill patients. But after early warning signs, a phase 3 flop has forced the drugmakers to can their U.S. trial.
Sanofi and Regeneron have stopped their stateside study of Kevzara in mechanically ventilated COVID-19 patients after the drug failed to prevent deaths or get patients off ventilation, among other key endpoints, the drugmakers said Thursday.
Kevzara, added to standard-of-care therapy, not only failed to better patients’ condition after 22 days, but the drug’s “minor positive trends” in ventilated patients were also offset by poor results in a partially enrolled subgroup that had not been ventilated at the start of treatment, the companies said.