AstraZeneca's antibody treatment fails to protect against COVID-19

AstraZeneca announced on Tuesday that the clinical trial of its long-acting antibody cocktail has not provided evidence of effectiveness in protecting people exposed to the coronavirus.

The trial involved 1,121 adult participants who had been exposed to a person who tested positive for COVID-19 within eight days. The placebo group had 17 cases, while a group where participants were administered with AZD7442 - a combination of two different monoclonal antibodies - had 23. The company noted that the antibody cocktail lowered the risk of developing a symptomatic infection by 33%, which is not a statistically significant result.

"The trial did not meet the primary endpoint of post-exposure prevention of symptomatic COVID-19 with AZD7442 compared to placebo," AstraZeneca said in a statement.

The company promised to publish the results from the trial in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

AZD7442 is produced from two long-acting monoclonal antibodies acquired from plasma of convalescent COVID-19 patients. (ANI/Sputnik)

( With inputs from ANI )