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Coronavirus Update: Regeneron's New Antibody Efficacy; Pfizer And Merck Strike US Contracts

 
• By Scrip Team

Regeneron's antibody cocktail prevented deaths and mechanical ventilation in hospitalized patients on low-flow oxygen. Also, Pfizer and BioNTech will supply an additional 100m doses of the companies' COVID-19 vaccine to the US government for $1.95bn, while Merck & Co signed a contract for its COVID-19 treatment MK-7110. 

Coronavirus

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. reported interim results from its ongoing Phase I/II/III clinical trial of the antibody cocktail casirivimab and imdevimab in the treatment of COVID-19. The company said on 29 December that Phase I/II results in hospitalized patients on low-flow oxygen, which showed a reduction in the incidence of death or mechanical ventilation, justify continuing the study into Phase III in this population.

The analysis was prospectively designed to focus on seronegative patients – individuals who had not yet mounted an immune response to SARS-CoV-2 – in which casirivimab and imdevimab have shown the greatest efficacy in prior trials. The antibody cocktail passed the futility analysis (p<0

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