Lilly’s antibodies bamlanivimab and etesevimab show promise against COVID-19

Eli Lilly’s neutralising antibodies bamlanivimab and etesevimab significantly reduced COVID-19-related hospitalisations and deaths in recently diagnosed, high-risk COVID-19 patients.

In the Phase III BLAZE-1 trial, which enrolled 1,035 patients in total, there were 11 events in the bamlanivimab/etesevimab-treated group, while there were 36 events in the placebo group.

This reflected a 70% risk reduction for COVID-19-related hospitalisations and deaths in patients taking Lilly’s antibody combination.

In this study, there were ten deaths in total, which all occurred in the placebo group, with no deaths observed in patients taking bamlanivimab and etesevimab together.

“These exciting results, which replicate positive Phase II data in a much larger set of patients, add valuable clinical evidence about the role neutralising antibodies can play in fighting this pandemic,” said Daniel Skovronsky, Lilly's chief scientific officer and president of Lilly Research Laboratories.

“While the preliminary nature of Phase II results from COVID-19 neutralising monoclonal antibodies may have limited acceptance of treatment, these Phase III data further strengthen the available evidence,” he added.

In addition to meeting the primary endpoint of the BLAZE-1 trial, Lilly’s antibodies together also demonstrated statistically significant improvements on all key secondary endpoints.

This included strong evidence that the therapy reduced viral load and accelerated symptom resolution.