Regeneron (NASDAQ:REGN) is proud to be part of another potentially life-saving treatment for hospitalized COVID-19 patients. The treatment has been discovered by researchers at the University of Oxford.
The British study — part of the wider Recovery trial investigating various possible treatments for people hospitalized with coronavirus — found that an antibody combination made by Regeneron reduces the risk of death when given to patients with severe COVID who have not mounted a natural antibody response of their own.
The treatment uses a "cocktail" of two monoclonal antibodies (casirivimab and imdevimab, known as Regen-Cov in the U.S.) that bind specifically to two different sites on the coronavirus spike protein, neutralizing the ability of the virus to infect cells.
Previous studies in non-hospitalized COVID patients have shown that the treatment reduces viral load, shortens the time to the resolution of symptoms, and significantly reduces the risk of hospitalization or death.
But in a small trial in hospitalized patients, preliminary evidence suggested a clinical benefit for patients who had not mounted a natural antibody response of their own (that is, they were seronegative) when they entered the trial.
This latest study is the first trial large enough to determine definitively whether this treatment reduces mortality in patients hospitalized with severe COVID.
The trial, which took place between September and May, involved 9,785 patients hospitalized with COVID.
REGN shares ballooned $8.46, or 1.6%, to $535.95.
