Eli Lilly Antibody Cuts Covid-19 Risk Up to 80% in Nursing Home Study

A resident of the Hebrew Home at Riverdale and her guest look out a window in Riverdale, New York, U.S., on Wednesday, July 17, 2013. In 1995, the home adopted a four-page policy -- considered the first of its kind -- stating that residents "have the right to seek out and engage in sexual expression," including "words, gestures, movements or activities which appear motivated by the desire for sexual gratification." Photographer: Michael Nagle

(Bloomberg) -- Eli Lilly & Co.’s antibody therapy reduced nursing home residents’ risk of symptomatic Covid-19 by as much as 80% when used preventively in a study.

The infused treatment, cleared for use in high-risk Covid patients with mild-to-moderate disease who haven’t been hospitalized, also significantly reduced the risk of symptomatic disease in nursing home workers, according to a statement from Lilly on Thursday.

The U.S. is prioritizing Covid-19 vaccines from Moderna Inc., Pfizer Inc. and other manufacturers for elderly people and health-care workers. The results suggest that Lilly’s treatment, called bamlanivimab, may also play a role in the effort to keep nursing home patients and staff from developing severe, potentially lethal illness.

With more than 400,000 deaths since the outset of the pandemic, the U.S. is the world leader in Covid mortality. Nursing home residents represent about a quarter of those fatalities, according to data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Lilly and the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases launched a study in August to see if bamlanivimab would slow spread in long-term care facilities where the virus had already been detected. To carry out the study, Lilly created a fleet of mobile clinics -- RVs retrofitted with infusion materials and tools -- to bring the treatment to nursing homes.

The late-stage study, called BLAZE-2, followed 299 residents and 666 staff who tested negative after a recently diagnosed case in their facilities. After eight weeks, those who got an infusion of the drug were less likely to develop Covid-19 than those who received a placebo, according to the statement.

The residents’ 80% reduction in risk of contracting Covid-19 symptoms reduction was seen when treated participants were compared with others in their facility who got a placebo, Lilly said. Four Covid-attributed deaths occurred during the study among those who received a placebo, and none among those who were treated.

Full results from the trial will ultimately be submitted to a medical journal, Lilly said.