Eli Lilly & Co. said its antibody-based drug prevented Covid-19 among many residents and staff of nursing homes and assisted-living facilities, results that point to the drug complementing vaccines while inoculations increase.
The drug, called bamlanivimab, reduced the risk of both staff and residents getting sick with Covid-19 by about 57% compared with a placebo, Lilly said Thursday. The effect was more pronounced among residents, the company said, an 80% reduction in risk of Covid-19.
The findings signal the potential for a new preventive weapon that could augment the fledgling Covid-19 vaccination effort to stem the pandemic.
Lilly said it would ask U.S. health regulators to widen the drug’s authorized use to include protecting people in long-term-care facilities where someone has recently been diagnosed with Covid-19.
The partial results were from a last-stage, or Phase 3, study conducted in partnership with the National Institutes of Health. Lilly disclosed the data in a news release and said it plans to publish full results in a peer-reviewed medical journal.
