(Reuters) -AstraZeneca said on Thursday its COVID-19 antibody drug was 83% effective in cutting the risk of people contracting symptomatic illness in a six-month follow-up study, cementing the drugmaker’s lead in developing preventative coronavirus treatments.
The Anglo-Swedish company said a separate study in patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 showed that a higher dose of the therapy, AZD7442, cut the risk of symptoms worsening by 88% when given within three days of first symptoms.
The latest round of positive results potentially position AstraZeneca as a rare supplier of both COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, with the drugmaker having said the therapy’s “real advantage” was as a preventative shot, rather than as a treatment.
(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Shounak Dasgupta)
