Trials for antibody treatment set to begin in the UK
THE UK will be the first country to begin clinical trials of a new coronavirus antibody treatment developed by drugs giant AstraZeneca aimed at people with a weakened immune system who cannot be vaccinated.
A participant in Manchester will be the first in the world to receive the pharmaceutical company’s new “antibody cocktail” as part of the trial to test whether it will prevent Covid-19 for up to year.
The clinical trial programme will recruit 5,000 participants, which includes 1,000 people from nine sites in the UK.
The aim of the trial is to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of a combination of two long-acting monoclonal antibodies – man-made proteins that act like natural human antibodies in the immune system.
Sir Mene Pangalos, executive vice president of biopharmaceuticals R&D at AstraZeneca, said the treatment, which can be injected or administered intravenously, is aimed at those who have a weakened immune system and cannot be vaccinated as well as those who are unlikely to respond to immunisation - which may include hundreds of thousands people in the UK.
He said: “There is going to be a significant number of people – even in a world where vaccines are highly effective – who will not respond to vaccines, or in fact will not take vaccines.
“So having monoclonal antibodies as potential therapeutics is also important.”
The UK Government has an in-principle agreement to secure access to one million doses of the antibody combination, dubbed AZD7442, if it is successful in the phase three trials.
The trial aims to enrol adults who are at increased risk of Covid-19 infection or who are more likely to have an inadequate response to vaccination, and will include people from health care and care home settings.
Sir Mene said: “We need people to sign up to this [trial], particularly those vulnerable people over 60 who are immuno-suppressed, and may be at higher risk of developing severe disease.”
Initial results from the randomised control trial are expected to be published in the first half of 2021, although the trial is expected to last for 12 months.