More hope for nursing home residents? Drug protects them against COVID, study finds

An antibody-based drug that’s already being used as a COVID-19 treatment may now help prevent the disease in nursing home residents and staff, some of the most vulnerable individuals due to age and underlying health conditions, according to its developers.

American pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Company announced Thursday that its Phase 3 clinical trial, conducted with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, showed the drug reduced the chances of nursing home residents getting sick with COVID-19 by up to 80%.

The antibody drug, named bamlanivimab, also helped prevent symptomatic COVID-19 in nursing home staff after eight weeks of follow-up, the company said.

The Phase 3 trial included 965 participants — 299 residents and 666 staff — who tested negative for the coronavirus before being randomly assigned to receive the drug or a placebo. Four of the 299 residents in the study died from COVID-19, each of whom received a placebo. There were no coronavirus-related deaths among those who got the drug.

The company plans to present its complete results at a future medical meeting and submit them for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.

“We are exceptionally pleased with these positive results, which showed bamlanivimab was able to help prevent COVID-19, substantially reducing symptomatic disease among nursing home residents, some of the most vulnerable members of our society,” Dr. Daniel Skovronsky, Lilly’s chief scientific officer and president of Lilly Research Laboratories, said in a news release. “These data provide important additional clinical evidence regarding the use of bamlanivimab to fight COVID-19 and strengthen our conviction that monoclonal antibodies such as bamlanivimab can play a critical role in turning the tide of this pandemic.”

The company said their antibody-based drug could be used alongside COVID-19 vaccines as nursing home residents and staff wait to get their shot.

“We want to try to get this to people in nursing homes,” Skovronsky told the Wall Street Journal. “It’s not an alternative for a vaccine. It’s for people who haven’t been vaccinated, and there’s an outbreak in their facility — this could be a last resort.”

So far, 1.9 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered at long-term care facilities, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tracker.

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Bamlanivimab works by attacking the coronavirus’ spike protein, which helps the invader attach to and enter human cells. Essentially, the drug makes the virus ineffective and thus harmless.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized bamlanivimab for emergency use on Nov. 9 for adults and children 12 and older who have mild to moderate COVID-19 and a high risk of developing a severe case or getting hospitalized. The drug is most effective when given shortly after a person tests positive for the virus and within 10 days since symptom onset.

Side effects were consistent with Phase 1 and 2 studies, the company added, with at least 1% of participants reporting symptoms such as nausea, diarrhea, dizziness and headache.

Now, Lilly says they are hoping “to explore expanding” the drug’s usage in nursing homes to prevent further coronavirus spread and deaths.

The “BLAZE-2” clinical trial is ongoing and will enroll up to 5,000 participants to evaluate bamlanivimab alone or in combination with another antibody as a COVID-19 treatment. More than 4,000 participants have already been treated, the company said.

The drug is not authorized for use in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 or those who require oxygen therapy due to the disease.