ASTRAZENECA ANTIBODY COCKTAIL CLEARS STUDY TO TREAT VIRUS

Astrazeneca's experimental COVID-19 drug has helped cut the risk of severe disease or death in a late-stage study, the British drugmaker said on Monday, a boost to its efforts to develop coronavirus medicines beyond vaccines. The drug, a cocktail of two antibodies called AZD7442, reduced the risk of severe COVID-19 or death by 50 per cent in nonhospitalised patients who have had symptoms for seven days or less. Astrazeneca's therapy, delivered via injection, is the first of its kind to show promise both as a preventative medicine and as a treatment for Covid-19 following multiple trials. It is designed to protect people who do not have a strong enough immune response to vaccines. "These positive results show that a convenient intramuscular dose of AZD7442 could play an important role in helping combat this devastating pandemic," Hugh Montgomery, the trial's principal investigator, said. Similar therapies made with a class of drugs called monoclonal antibodies are being developed. The trial took place across 13 countries and involved more than 900 adult participants, Astrazeneca said.