Drugmaker Regeneron announced plans Monday to begin Phase 3 clinical trials of a “double antibody cocktail” for use as a possible treatment for COVID-19.
The Phase 3 trial, the last stage of evaluation in the drug approval process, will assess the ability of the cocktail, called REGN-COV2, to prevent infection among uninfected people who have had “close exposure” to someone with COVID-19, company officials said.
COVID-19 is the disease caused by the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2.
“We are running simultaneous adaptive trials in order to move as quickly as possible to provide a potential solution to prevent and treat COVID-19 infections, even in the midst of an ongoing global pandemic,” Dr. George D. Yancopoulos, Regeneron’s co-founder, president and chief scientific officer, said in a statement.
The Phase 3 trial will be run by Regeneron and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The cocktail, which is administered as a single IV infusion, is simultaneously undergoing Phase 2 and 3 trials designed to test its ability to treat hospitalized and non-hospitalized patients who have COVID-19, the company said.
