(RTTNews) - British drug major AstraZeneca PLC (AZN, AZN.L) Monday said that data from new independent studies showed that EVUSHELD (tixagevimab co-packaged with cilgavimab) long-acting antibody combination retains potent neutralizing activity against the emerging and highly transmissible Omicron SARS-CoV-2 BA.2 subvariant.
EVUSHELD is authorized for pre-exposure prophylaxis (prevention) of COVID-19 in the US and several other countries.
The new preclinical authentic 'live' virus data from Washington University School of Medicine data also showed that EVUSHELD retains activity against Omicron BA.1 and BA.1.1.1
In addition, in vivo (live organism) data generated using mice infected with Omicron BA.1, BA.1.1 and BA.2 demonstrated that EVUSHELD significantly reduced the viral burden and limited inflammation in the lungs for all three subvariants.
The company noted that SARS-CoV-2 viral load is associated with increased disease severity and mortality as well as post-COVID conditions (long COVID).
The study used a transgenic mouse model to evaluate EVUSHELD in pre-exposure prophylaxis (prevention) of COVID-19, similar to how EVUSHELD is used in the clinic. These are the first in vivo data evaluating EVUSHELD's efficacy against the Omicron variants versus previous in vitro neutralizing activity assays in cultured cells.
The Washington University findings were reported online on bioRxiv, a preprint server.
John Perez, Senior Vice President, Head of Late Development, Vaccines & Immune Therapies, AstraZeneca, said, "These important data show that EVUSHELD reduced viral burden and limited inflammation caused by Omicron. The findings further support EVUSHELD as a potential important option to help protect vulnerable patients such as the immunocompromised who could face poor outcomes if they were to become infected with COVID-19."
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