NIH Starts Clinical Trial Testing Antibody Drugs In COVID-19 Patients

The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) said on Tuesday it has started a study to evaluate two monoclonal antibody drugs in hospitalized COVID-19 patients as part of the agency's program to identify promising therapeutics to help tackle the new coronavirus.

The trial will test AbbVie Inc's psoriasis drug risankizumab along with Gilead Sciences' antiviral remdesivir, compared to a placebo and remdesivir.

The study will also test Humanigen's experimental drug lenzilumab with remdesivir, compared to placebo and remdesivir. (bit.ly/3lKi1km)

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"The goal here is to identify as quickly as possible the experimental therapeutics that demonstrate the most clinical promise as COVID-19 treatments and move them into larger-scale testing," said NIAID Director and U.S. infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci.

Gilead's remdesivir, which was among the first to be used to treat COVID-19 and received emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in May, has since been authorized for use in several other countries.

—Reuters Staff

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