After several weeks of work, the treatment against COVID-19 launched by AstraZeneca was not deemed to be completely effective on patients. This is a new setback for the Anglo-Swedish laboratory, which has already experienced numerous difficulties with its vaccine.
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Only a 33% reduction in symptoms
AstraZeneca provided an explanation in a press release:
The trial did not achieve the primary goal of preventing symptomatic Covid-19 cases after exposure .
This treatment, codenamed AZD7442, was created to prevent and treat coronavirus disease. It was in its third phase of development, i.e. it was in large-scale clinical trials to measure its precise efficacy and safety.
The tests were carried out on 1121 participants, all over 18 years of age, who had not been vaccinated but had been exposed to an infected person in the eight days before the survey. The results of the research showed that only 33% of symptoms were reduced.
AstraZeneca antibody treatment fails to hit main targets in latest trial https://t.co/z301MzEm9f
— Financial Times (@FT) June 15, 2021
The US invests
Research into this treatment for COVID-19 has been funded by the US government. They invested 726 million dollars (514.6 million pounds). A tidy sum for which AstraZeneca was required to produce up to 700,000 doses by the end of 2021.
In its press release, the laboratory indicated that negotiations concerning the next stages of the research were underway. Trials will still continue to test the treatment on people who have developed severe forms.
