AstraZeneca antibody drug effective at treating mild Covid-19 in trial

The cocktail halved the risk of developing severe illness or death compared with a placebo in participants who had been symptomatic for a week or less and weren't hospitalized, Astra said.

AstraZeneca Plc’s antibody cocktail was effective at preventing people with mild or moderate Covid-19 infection from worsening in a study that bolsters the drugmaker’s ambitions for the product.

The cocktail halved the risk of developing severe illness or death compared with a placebo in 822 participants who had been symptomatic for a week or less and weren’t hospitalized, Astra said in a statement Monday. 

The results are another boon for the injected product after it was also found to be highly effective at preventing symptomatic disease in high-risk people. The news comes after Merck & Co. fueled optimism that it will soon