The American-based pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly released their findings on what they dubbed as an effective antibody drug for the prevention of COVID-19 infection.
Conducted with the National Institutes of Health, the drug, known as bamlanivimab, was given to over 1,000 people at nursing homes and other long-term facilities.
Most of the participants had tested negative for infection at the initial phase of the drug’s administration.
Bamlanivimab was administered via the intravenous route; the group receiving the antibody-drug was then compared to a placebo group.
Among residents and staff at the nursing homes, bamlanivimab proved to be effective at lowering the risk of COVID-19 infection, by up to 80%, according to researchers.
The findings were released as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect the lives across many regions of the world, with the United States counting the highest number of confirmed cases globally.
In late-2020, the Food and Drug Administration had given the nod for the use of Lilly’s antibody-drug to treat adolescents with minor cases of infection.
Since the inception of the pandemic, however, only a handful of pharmaceutical giants have managed to receive emergency approval for safe widespread distribution within the U.S., which includes Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Lilly.
