The drug, Kevzara, works by inhibiting a pathway that was thought to contribute to the lung inflammation caused by COVID-19.
The drug, compared to a placebo, showed promise in patients on ventilators in a clinical trial, but did not show any benefit for patients who were hospitalized but didn’t need a ventilator.
As a result, the companies will stop testing the medicine in the group that is hospitalized but doesn’t need a ventilator.
The study will continue for patients who need ventilators or other oxygen support.
“There’s still hope it might help, but more modest than people hoped,” Regeneron Chief Scientific Officer George Yancopoulos, PhD, told The Wall Street Journal. “It doesn’t look like the magic panacea that everyone would’ve wanted for the pandemic.”
Dr. Yancopoulos said the results show that there is a need to perform controlled studies using a placebo.
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