[ti:US Drugmaker Begins Late Stage COVID-19 Antibodies Trial]
[by:www.21voa.com]
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[00:00.04]From VOA Learning English,
[00:02.76]this is the Health and Lifestyle report.
[00:06.52]Drug-maker Regeneron Pharmaceuticals announced on Monday
[00:11.88]it has started late stage human testing
[00:14.96]of an antibody treatment for COVID-19.
[00:18.92]It said the tests are designed to show the drug's effectiveness
[00:23.88]in preventing and treating the disease.
[00:28.20]Regeneron is launching one of the drug trials jointly
[00:32.12]with the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
[00:37.80]The company said the goal is to test the drug's ability to prevent infections
[00:44.52]in persons who have had close contact with a COVID-19 patient.
[00:51.80]Regeneron said it hopes the late-stage drug trial
[00:55.64]will involve about 2,000 patients across the United States.
[01:02.16]George D. Yancopoulos is a co-founder
[01:06.00]and president of the New York-based company.
[01:09.28]He said in a statement, "We are running simultaneous adaptive trials
[01:14.80]in order to move as quickly as possible to provide a potential solution
[01:20.60]to prevent and treat COVID-19 infections,
[01:25.08]even in the midst of an ongoing global pandemic."
[01:30.48]Yancopoulos noted that the antibody treatment
[01:33.88]"could be available much sooner than a vaccine."
[01:38.48]Regeneron is holding two separate late stage trials
[01:43.32]following a positive review from an independent group
[01:47.36]of REGN-COV2 Phase 1 safety results.
[01:52.68]The earlier tests involved 30 hospitalized
[01:57.16]and non-hospitalized patients with COVID-19.
[02:02.28]The company said the late-stage Phase 3 prevention trial
[02:07.32]will take place at about 100 testing centers in the U.S.
[02:12.60]The aim of the trial is to examine SARS-CoV-2 infection status.
[02:19.64]SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that cause COVID-19 disease.
[02:26.96]The other Phase 2 and 3 treatment trials are planned
[02:31.20]across 150 sites in the U.S., Brazil, Mexico and Chile.
[02:39.36]The trials will include over 1,800 hospitalized
[02:44.36]and 1,000 non-hospitalized patients.
[02:48.52]Antibodies are chemical molecules.
[02:51.92]The body's natural defenses produce antibodies to fight off infection.
[02:58.64]The U.S. National Institutes of Health notes that some researchers
[03:03.96]are testing whether antibodies against COVID-19
[03:08.44]could be used as a treatment to others who are infected.
[03:13.92]Others are studying the structure and work of different antibodies
[03:18.60]to help guide the development of vaccines.
[03:22.84]There are concerns that the novel coronavirus
[03:26.60]can change in humans and resist the antibodies.
[03:32.48]Regeneron's REGN-COV2 treatment combines
[03:36.80]a "genetically-modified" antibody made by the company
[03:40.96]and a second antibody from recovered COVID-19 patients.
[03:47.04]The treatment is designed to connect the antibodies to the virus
[03:51.60]that causes COVID-19 and limit its ability to spread in an infected person.
[04:00.48]This idea has previously been used to develop drugs to treat other viruses
[04:06.72]such as HIV, the cause of AIDS.
[04:11.40]Yancopoulos noted last month that "individual antibodies, no matter how good,
[04:17.80]are likely not enough against the devastating virus that causes COVID-19
[04:24.84]and the ways it seeks to 'escape' being neutralized."
[04:30.72]The results of the REGN-COV2 study were published June 15 in Science.
[04:38.20]Other drug-makers have begun human trials
[04:41.12]of their experimental treatments for fighting COVID-19.
[04:46.28]The companies include Gilead Sciences, Eli Lilly, and AbbVie.
[04:53.64]And that's the Health and Lifestyle report.
[04:56.28]I'm Anna Matteo. 更多听力请访问21VOA.COM