Researchers claim they have discovered another life-saving treatment, exactly a year after discovering that an inexpensive steroid medication reduced Covid fatalities.
It's costly: a powerful intravenous infusion of antibodies designed to neutralize the virus rather than reduce the body's inflammatory response to it.
According to the findings of the Recovery study, it may be able to treat one out of every three people in hospital with severe Covid.
Experts estimate that for every 100 patients treated, six lives will be saved.
Treatment that is revolutionary
The therapy, which costs between £1,000 and £2,000, should only be given to people who have not yet produced their own antibodies to combat the virus.
"I feel extremely lucky that the study was up and running by the time I was admitted to hospital with Covid-19 and I was able to get this ground-breaking medication," said Kimberley Featherstone, 37, who got the therapy during the study.
"I'm happy that by participating I played a part in finding out this treatment is successful."
Regenoron's monoclonal antibody therapy attaches to the virus, preventing it from infecting cells and reproducing.
It dramatically decreased the: in the experiment, which involved almost 10,000 UK hospital patients:
- danger of death
- a four-day increase in the average length of stay in the hospital
- Possibility of requiring a ventilator to breathe
"Giving patients this combination of two antibodies by intravenous infusion then really decreases their odds of dying by a fifth," said joint chief investigator Sir Martin Landray.
"What we found is now here we can use an antiviral treatment, in this case these antibodies, in patients who have got a one in three chance of dying untreated and we can reduce that risk for them."
