This is important news too: Eli Lilly‘s monoclonal antibody bamlanivimab (that‘s the treatment Chris Christie received) has received an emergency use authorization in the US. Crucially this is not for hospitalized patients but for „mild-to-moderate #covid19“.
https://twitter.com/US_FDA/status/1325941549033795589
The data here is still thin. Decision is based on interim results from a phase 2 trial in which three different doses were tested against placebo. In all three bamlanivimab groups hospitalizations and ER visits were less likely than in placebo group.
And the cavets are important: This is an expensive drug given IV and giving it early in the disease course means giving it to a lot of people only some of whom really need it. Producing the drug would also be a bottleneck.
So why is it important? Scientists have long argued that what is really needed in this pandemic are drugs that can keep people from being hospitalized in the first place. Monoclonals always seemed the best bet for that.
If the data pans out on bamlanivimab, it is a hopeful sign for other monoclonals as well. To fight #covid19 the world needs vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics. So this may one day be seen as a turning point when the world added another important tool to its toolbox.
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