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Regeneron Pharmaceuticals begins COVID-19 antibody cocktail late-stage trial

The trial, run jointly with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), would test the therapy's ability to prevent infection in those who have had close exposure to a COVID-19 patient.

July 06, 2020 / 05:53 PM IST
Representative image

Representative image

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc said on Monday it began late-stage clinical trials to assess the effectiveness of its antibody cocktail in preventing and treating COVID-19, sending its shares up nearly 4 percent.

The trial, run jointly with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), would test the therapy's ability to prevent infection in those who have had close exposure to a COVID-19 patient.

The late-stage trial, to be conducted across 100 sites and expected to enroll 2,000 patients in the US, begins after an assessment of the antibody cocktail's safety in an early-stage trial by an independent committee.

"We are pleased to collaborate with NIAID to study REGN-COV2 in our quest to further prevent the spread of the virus with an anti-viral antibody cocktail that could be available much sooner than a vaccine," said Regeneron Chief Scientific Officer George Yancopoulos.

Shares of the drugmaker were up 3.6 percent at $645 in trading before the bell.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

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How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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Follow our full coverage of the coronavirus pandemic here.

Reuters
first published: Jul 6, 2020 05:45 pm

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