Covid-19 is prevented in high-risk populations by an antibody medication from AstraZeneca, according to a study

In a pivotal trial, AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 antibody cocktail was found to be 77 percent effective in avoiding symptomatic Covid-19 in high-risk patients, suggesting that the spectrum of medicines accessible to vulnerable groups might be expanded.

According to Astra’s findings, no one in the experiment who got the combination acquired severe Covid-19 or died as a result of the condition, according to the company’s statement on Friday. The 5,197-person study began in November and was conducted in the United States, the United Kingdom, Belgium, France, and Spain to see if the medication might prevent infection in at-risk populations.

The outcome will be a big relief for Astra after another study testing whether the cocktail could prevent symptomatic Covid-19 in people explicitly exposed to the virus failed in June. The findings may also salvage a deal with the US to purchase the drug. The US had ordered as many as 700,000 do doses for delivery in 2021, the value of which was partly co ntingent on the failed trial.

Astra said in June it was in “ongoing” discussions with the US government and awaiting results of this latest study – named Provent — before deciding how to proceed. The trial accrued 25 symptomatic Covid-19 infections for the primary accrued 25 symptomatic Covid-19 infections for the primary a nalysis. Volunteers were given the AZD7442 cocktail on a 2:1 randomized drug-to-placebo ratio.

“We need additional approaches for individuals who are not adequately protected by Covid-19 vaccines,” Mene Pangalos, executive vice president of biopharmaceuticals research and development, said in a statement. “We are very encouraged by these efficacy and safety data in high-risk people.”