Ground-breaking Covid treatment developed at Oxford

Another potentially life-saving Covid-19 treatment has been discovered by researchers at the University of Oxford.

The British study, part of the wider RECOVERY trial investigating various possible treatments for people hospitalised with coronavirus, found that an antibody combination made by Regeneron reduces the risk of death when given to patients with severe Covid-19 who have not mounted a natural antibody response of their own.

The treatment works by injecting two artificial antibodies so they bind to the virus in a bid to stop the infection in its tracks. 

These two monoclonal antibodies, casirivimab and imdevimab, bind specifically to two different sites on the coronavirus spike protein, neutralising the ability of the virus to infect cells.

This treatment uses two types of artificial antibodies so it is hoped it will be able to bypass any resistance the patient builds up against one of them.

Between September of last year and 22 May, 9,785 UK patients admitted to hospital with the disease were randomly allocated to receive usual care plus the antibody combination treatment, or usual care alone.

The trial demonstrated that the antibody combination reduced the risk of death when given to patients with severe Covid-19, who had not mounted a natural antibody response of their own.

The chances of these patients needing to be put on a ventilator were also reduced, as was the duration of their hospital stay.

Among patients who mounted their own antibody response, the treatment made no difference.

The results could pave the way for Regeneron’s monoclonal antibody treatment – which is expensive, coming in at between £1000 and £2000 per patient – to be approved by UK regulators and rolled out for use across the NHS.

Sir Martin Landray, the joint chief investigator on the trial, said: “What we found was amongst these patients who were seronegative – they hadn’t raised antibodies of their own, if you then gave them this combination of two antibodies in an intravenous infusion, then mortality was reduced by one fifth.”

“So instead of 30% dying, 24% died. So if you think of it differently, for every 100 patients who were given the intravenous infusion, we would save six lives.”

Researchers say a quick rollout will not be straightforward as the drug is not easy to obtain and patients would need to be tested for antibodies when they arrive in hospital – something that is not routinely done.