AstraZeneca Plc has begun with its advanced stage trials for an antibody medicine against Covid-19 with a large investment from the U.S after President Donald Trump backed a similar therapy which helped him recover from COVID infection.
Astra said in a statement, two trials for more than 6,000 people are starting in the next few weeks looking at prevention, with plans for a further 4,000 adults to test the antibody medicine as a treatment. Evaluation of the drug will be done on its ability to avoid infections for as much as a year in some people and as a pre-emptive medicine once patients have been exposed to the virus in others.
Astra is one among those companies who are in the race to explore monoclonal antibodies as a way to prevent Covid-19 and also for its treatment, which could be key for high-risk populations who may not respond well to a vaccine. The U.S. has already made a deal to acquire a supply of hundreds of thousands of doses of the experimental treatments.
Eli Lilly & Co. and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. last week asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for emergency-use authorizations but are waiting for the consent. Trump has said Regeneron’s antibody cocktail was key to his speedy recovery from coronavirus.
Early data from both Eli Lilly and Regeneron suggest the medicines given to the President are effective in keeping infected people out of danger. GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Vir Biotechnology Inc. also started advanced tests on a possible antibody treatment last week.
According to an agreement, Astra has agreed to supply as many as 100,000 doses to the U.S. by the end of 2020, giving the country an option to purchase one million additional doses in 2021. The U.S. previously had given the British pharmaceutical company $25 million for the discovery and evaluation of the monoclonal antibodies for which the phase I trial has already started in August.
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Monday in London, Astra has seen a little change in its shares.
The company’s long-acting antibody “has the potential to provide an immediate and long-lasting effect in both preventing and treating Covid-19 infections,” Chief Executive Officer Pascal Soriot said in a statement released Friday.