Coronavirus Antibody Cocktail Evaluated in the UK

One of the world's largest efforts to find effective COVID-19 treatments announced it will evaluate the impact of REGN-COV2 on mortality, hospital stays, and the need for ventilation.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and the University of Oxford today announced on September 14, 2020, the RECOVERY (Randomised Evaluation of COVid-19 thERapY) clinical trials will evaluate Regeneron's investigational anti-viral antibody cocktail, REGN-COV2.

REGN-COV2 comprises two monoclonal antibodies (REGN10933 and REGN10987) and was designed specifically by Regeneron scientists to block the infectivity of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. 

This Phase 3 open-label trial in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 will compare the effects of adding REGN-COV2 to the usual standard-of-care versus standard-of-care on its own. Other endpoints include the impact on hospital stay and the need for ventilation. 

It is anticipated that at least 2,000 patients will be randomly allocated to receive REGN-COV2 plus usual standard-of-care, and results will be compared with at least 2,000 patients who receive standard-of-care on its own. Usual standard-of-care varies by the local hospital.

Peter Horby, Professor of Emerging Infectious Diseases and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford and chief investigator of the trial, commented in a press statement: "We have already discovered that one treatment, dexamethasone, benefits COVID-19 patients, but the death rate remains too high so we must keep searching for others.”

“The RECOVERY trial was specifically designed so that when promising investigational drugs such as REGN-COV2 became available they can be tested quickly. We are looking forward to seeing whether REGN-COV2 is safe and effective in the context of a large-scale randomized clinical trial; this is the only way to be certain about whether it works as a treatment for COVID-19."

REGN-COV2 is currently being studied in two Phase 2/3 clinical trials for the treatment of COVID-19 and in a Phase 3 trial for the prevention of COVID-19 in household contacts of infected individuals.

Martin Landray, Professor of Medicine & Epidemiology, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, added, "Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic we have seen the power of randomized trials to provide a rigorous assessment of potential treatments. Up to now, we have largely been studying whether existing drugs can be re-purposed to tackle this new disease, but we now have the opportunity to rigorously assess the impact of a drug specifically designed to target this coronavirus.”

“There are good reasons to be excited about this new development – RECOVERY will provide a robust assessment of the effect of this lab-manufactured monoclonal antibody combination treatment in hospitalized patients.”

The trial is being coordinated by researchers at the University of Oxford, which acts as the sponsor for the research, working with clinical teams at 176 hospital sites across the UK.

The trial is supported by a grant to the University of Oxford from UK Research and Innovation/National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and by core funding provided by NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, Wellcome, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Department for International Development, Health Data Research UK, the Medical Research Council Population Health Research Unit and NIHR Clinical Trials Unit Support Funding. 

REGN-COV2's development and manufacturing has been funded in part by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, part of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under OT number: HHSO100201700020C. 

Regeneron has recently partnered with Roche to increase the global supply of REGN-COV2.

Regeneron is a leading biotechnology company that invents life-transforming medicines for people with serious diseases.

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