Coronavirus: Vir and GSK antibody demonstrates “high efficiency”

According to an independent committee, interim results from a trial involving 583 patients demonstrated an 85% reduction in hospitalizations and deaths in patients treated with the monoclonal antibody VIR-7831 compared to those who received a placebo. The product was also “well tolerated,” said GSK and Vir in a statement.

In light of these results, the two groups plan to apply for emergency use authorization in the United States and other countries.

The two groups have also announced that a new in vitro study has shown that VIR-7831 remains effective against new variants of Covid-19 currently in circulation, which have appeared in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil.

“These exciting data (…) bring us one step closer to being able to deliver a new and effective solution to patients around the world,” said Vir Managing Director George Scangos.

“We look forward to making VIR-7831 available to patients as soon as possible and further exploring its potential in other configurations,” said Hal Barron, Scientific Director and President of Research and Development at GSK. .

Vir and GSK are also collaborating on trials still in the early phase on a second antibody (VIR-7832). Preclinical trials indicate that it has “the potential to block the entry of the virus into healthy cells and an increased ability to clean infected cells,” according to the two groups.