US Drugmaker Begins Late Stage COVID-19 Antibodies Trial
2020-07-07
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1From VOA Learning English, this is the Health and Lifestyle report.
2Drug-maker Regeneron Pharmaceuticals announced on Monday it has started late stage human testing of an antibody treatment for COVID-19.
3It said the tests are designed to show the drug's effectiveness in preventing and treating the disease.
4Regeneron is launching one of the drug trials jointly with the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
5The company said the goal is to test the drug's ability to prevent infections in persons who have had close contact with a COVID-19 patient.
6Regeneron said it hopes the late-stage drug trial will involve about 2,000 patients across the United States.
7George D. Yancopoulos is a co-founder and president of the New York-based company.
8He said in a statement, "We are running simultaneous adaptive trials in order to move as quickly as possible to provide a potential solution to prevent and treat COVID-19 infections, even in the midst of an ongoing global pandemic."
9Yancopoulos noted that the antibody treatment "could be available much sooner than a vaccine."
10Regeneron is holding two separate late stage trials following a positive review from an independent group of REGN-COV2 Phase 1 safety results.
11The earlier tests involved 30 hospitalized and non-hospitalized patients with COVID-19.
12The company said the late-stage Phase 3 prevention trial will take place at about 100 testing centers in the U.S.
13The aim of the trial is to examine SARS-CoV-2 infection status.
14SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that cause COVID-19 disease.
15The other Phase 2 and 3 treatment trials are planned across 150 sites in the U.S., Brazil, Mexico and Chile.
16The trials will include over 1,800 hospitalized and 1,000 non-hospitalized patients.
17Antibodies are chemical molecules.
18The body's natural defenses produce antibodies to fight off infection.
19The U.S. National Institutes of Health notes that some researchers are testing whether antibodies against COVID-19 could be used as a treatment to others who are infected.
20Others are studying the structure and work of different antibodies to help guide the development of vaccines.
21There are concerns that the novel coronavirus can change in humans and resist the antibodies.
22Regeneron's REGN-COV2 treatment combines a "genetically-modified" antibody made by the company and a second antibody from recovered COVID-19 patients.
23The treatment is designed to connect the antibodies to the virus that causes COVID-19 and limit its ability to spread in an infected person.
24This idea has previously been used to develop drugs to treat other viruses such as HIV, the cause of AIDS.
25Yancopoulos noted last month that "individual antibodies, no matter how good, are likely not enough against the devastating virus that causes COVID-19 and the ways it seeks to 'escape' being neutralized."
26The results of the REGN-COV2 study were published June 15 in Science.
27Other drug-makers have begun human trials of their experimental treatments for fighting COVID-19.
28The companies include Gilead Sciences, Eli Lilly, and AbbVie.
29And that's the Health and Lifestyle report.
30I'm Anna Matteo.
1From VOA Learning English, this is the Health and Lifestyle report. 2Drug-maker Regeneron Pharmaceuticals announced on Monday it has started late stage human testing of an antibody treatment for COVID-19. It said the tests are designed to show the drug's effectiveness in preventing and treating the disease. 3Regeneron is launching one of the drug trials jointly with the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). The company said the goal is to test the drug's ability to prevent infections in persons who have had close contact with a COVID-19 patient. 4Regeneron said it hopes the late-stage drug trial will involve about 2,000 patients across the United States. 5George D. Yancopoulos is a co-founder and president of the New York-based company. He said in a statement, "We are running simultaneous adaptive trials in order to move as quickly as possible to provide a potential solution to prevent and treat COVID-19 infections, even in the midst of an ongoing global pandemic." 6Yancopoulos noted that the antibody treatment "could be available much sooner than a vaccine." 7Regeneron is holding two separate late stage trials following a positive review from an independent group of REGN-COV2 Phase 1 safety results. The earlier tests involved 30 hospitalized and non-hospitalized patients with COVID-19. 8The company said the late-stage Phase 3 prevention trial will take place at about 100 testing centers in the U.S. The aim of the trial is to examine SARS-CoV-2 infection status. SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that cause COVID-19 disease. 9The other Phase 2 and 3 treatment trials are planned across 150 sites in the U.S., Brazil, Mexico and Chile. The trials will include over 1,800 hospitalized and 1,000 non-hospitalized patients. 10Antibodies are chemical molecules. The body's natural defenses produce antibodies to fight off infection. 11The U.S. National Institutes of Health notes that some researchers are testing whether antibodies against COVID-19 could be used as a treatment to others who are infected. Others are studying the structure and work of different antibodies to help guide the development of vaccines. 12There are concerns that the novel coronavirus can change in humans and resist the antibodies. 13Regeneron's REGN-COV2 treatment combines a "genetically-modified" antibody made by the company and a second antibody from recovered COVID-19 patients. 14The treatment is designed to connect the antibodies to the virus that causes COVID-19 and limit its ability to spread in an infected person. This idea has previously been used to develop drugs to treat other viruses such as HIV, the cause of AIDS. 15Yancopoulos noted last month that "individual antibodies, no matter how good, are likely not enough against the devastating virus that causes COVID-19 and the ways it seeks to 'escape' being neutralized." 16The results of the REGN-COV2 study were published June 15 in Science. 17Other drug-makers have begun human trials of their experimental treatments for fighting COVID-19. The companies include Gilead Sciences, Eli Lilly, and AbbVie. 18And that's the Health and Lifestyle report. 19I'm Anna Matteo. 20Hai Do wrote this story for Learning English with information from Regeneron, Science and National Institutes of Health. George Grow was the editor. 21________________________________________________________________ 22Words in This Story 23simultaneous - adj. happening at the same time 24global - adj. involving the entire world 25pandemic - n. an occurrence in which a disease spreads very quickly and affects a large number of people over a wide area 26positive - adj. good or useful 27review - n. examination or inspection 28status - n. a current state of something 29devastating - adj. causing great harm or damage