On Tuesday, US pharmaceutical Eli Lilly announced that the firm has paused a late-stage trial of its experimental lab-produced antibody treatment against Covid-19 over an unspecified safety concern.
In a statement a spokesperson told AFP: “Lilly is supportive of the decision by the independent DSMB (data safety monitoring board) to cautiously ensure the safety of the patients participating in this study.”
The Phase 3 randomized control trial is a study of hospitalized Covid-19 patients that began in August across more than 50 sites in the United States, Denmark and Singapore with the aim of recruiting 10,000 people.
Both Lilly and Regeneron last week applied to the US Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorizations for their treatments.
Monoclonal antibodies are a relatively new class of drugs that are best known for treating certain types of cancer and autoimmune disease. Our own immune systems produce antibodies, which are infection-fighting molecules, and vaccines teach our bodies to be prepared to make the right ones for particular pathogens.
The Covid-19 treatment which was being studied in the paused trial was based on an effective antibody Lilly found in a recovered patient that was then mass produced in a lab.
Lilly hasn’t disclose any detail about the safety concern or how many people are affected.
