INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Pharmacist Eli Lilly said on Thursday that his antibody drug can prevent COVID-19 disease in residents and staff of nursing homes and other long-term care locations.
It is the first major study to show that such treatment can prevent disease in a group devastated by the pandemic.
Residents and staff who received the drug had up to a 57% lower risk of getting COVID-19 compared to others in the same facility who received a placebo, the drugmaker said. The risk was reduced to 80% only among nursing home residents.
The study involved more than 1,000 residents and staff of nursing homes and other long-term care locations, such as retirement homes. The vast majority tested negative at the start of the study. Some were ordered to receive the drug, which is given through an IV, and others were given placebo infusions.
The research was conducted with the National Institutes of Health. The results were announced in a press release, and the company said it would publish more details in a magazine soon.
Of the nearly 300 residents who did not have COVID-19, four later contracted the disease and died. Lilly said they had all been given the placebo.
The Food and Drug Administration approved the use of Lilly antibody drug in November as a treatment for people 12 and older with mild or moderate cases of COVID-19 that do not require hospitalization. It is a one-time treatment.
Lilly said it plans to work with regulators to see if licensing for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 in long-term care settings, where vaccinations are already underway.
Experts have said drugs like Lilly’s can act as a bridge to help control the virus until vaccines are widely available.
Nursing homes and other long-term care locations have been badly affected by the pandemic. In the United States, they make up less than 1% of the population, but nearly 40% of deaths from COVID-19.
These long-term care sites have been given priority to vaccinate residents and staff with recently approved COVID-19 vaccines. The vaccinations started last month at locations across the country.
The two vaccines approved by Pfizer and Moderna for emergency use require two doses. The major drugstore chains CVS and Walgreens provide the shots in nursing homes in almost all states.
The companies said they expect to complete the first doses in nursing homes this month. Their nursing home vaccination programs are expected to be largely completed in February and March. In other long-term locations such as assisted living, where residents require less medical care than nursing homes, progress is slower.
There will still be a need for Lilly’s drug in places like nursing homes, even though vaccines are already being distributed there, said Steve Brozak, president of WBB Securities, which tracks the pharmaceutical industry.
But Brozak wondered how long the treatment could be effective if new variants of the virus emerge.
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The Associated Press Department of Health and Science is supported by the Science Education Department of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The AP is solely responsible for all content.