Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
FDA Approves Eli Lilly's Antibody Cocktail For Emergency Use
Reuters: Eli Lilly's Antibody Combination Receives FDA Emergency Use Authorization For COVID-19
Eli Lilly’s combination antibody therapy to fight COVID-19 has been granted emergency use authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Lilly said on Tuesday. Lilly’s combination therapy of two antibodies, bamlanivimab and etesevimab, helped cut the risk of hospitalization and death in COVID-19 patients by 70%, data from a late-stage trial showed in January. Lilly said the therapy will be available immediately. (2/10)
The New York Times: F.D.A. Authorizes Another Antibody Treatment
The approval of the treatment, which is manufactured by the drug maker Eli Lilly, gives doctors another option for patients with Covid-19 who are not sick enough to be hospitalized but are at high risk of becoming seriously ill. Such therapies received a publicity boost under President Donald Trump when he and several other politicians took them while sick with Covid-19, but the drugs have not been widely used in many places, even as hospitalizations soared through the fall and into the winter. Researchers are hopeful about suggestions in preliminary data that the new combination therapy may be better able to fight virus variants compared with a similar treatment already in use. (Robbins, 2/9)
In other news on drugs that may fight or prevent covid —
ABC11 Raleigh-Durham: Researchers Say Drug Tested At UNC Was Found To Effectively Treat And Prevent COVID-19 In Mice
Scientists at the UNC School of Medicine and UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health say an orally administered experimental drug has proven effective at preventing and treating COVID-19 in mice in a lab setting. According to the scientists, the drug, EIDD-2801, halts SARS-CoV-2 replication and prevents infection of human cells in mice that are engineered to have human lung tissue. (2/9)
Reuters: Common Asthma Drug Cuts COVID-19 Hospitalization Risk, Recovery Time - Oxford Study
A commonly used asthma treatment appears to reduce the need for hospitalizations as well as recovery time for COVID-19 patients if given within seven days of symptoms appearing, researchers at the University of Oxford said on Tuesday. The findings were made following a mid-stage study of the steroid budesonide, sold as Pulmicort by AstraZeneca Plc and also used for treating smoker’s lung. The 28-day study of 146 patients suggested that inhaled budesonide reduced the risk of urgent care or hospitalization by 90% when compared with usual care, Oxford University said. (2/9)
The Hill: Cancer Drug Could Reduce COVID-19 Deaths, Study Finds
Biotech company Veru announced Tuesday that the results of a COVID-19 treatment trial indicate that one of the firm's anti-cancer treatments was effective in reducing the risk of death among coronavirus patients. The company pointed to the results of a double-blind study involving 40 hospital patients, some of whom were given the company's VERU-111 anti-cancer treatment and others who were given a placebo, which found the drug was responsible for an 82 percent "relative reduction" in the rate of respiratory failure or death. (Bowden, 2/9)
CIDRAP: Novel Antiviral Interferon Lambda May Offer COVID-19 Outpatient Benefits
After adjusting for baseline viral load, COVID outpatients are more than four times more likely to have an undetectable viral load when treated with the experimental drug interferon lambda, according to a small study published late last week in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine. Interferon lambda is an antiviral protein that uses multiple pathways to attack viruses. It is most active in the liver, lungs, and intestine. (2/8)
