Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca announced today that it has started clinical trials of a new drug to prevent and treat covid-19.
The company, which is also developing a possible vaccine against the new coronavirus in conjunction with the University of Oxford, pointed out that the drug, known as AZD7442, is a combination of two monoclonal antibodies (identical antibodies).
According to the pharmaceutical company, the trial, which involves 48 volunteers between 18 and 55 years old in the United Kingdom, is an “important milestone” in the development of the drug, which has the potential to be preventive for people most exposed to the coronavirus, as well as the possibility to treat patients with covid-19.
AstraZeneca is participating with Oxford in the development of a potential vaccine against the new coronavirus, which “looks safe and generates antibodies”, according to the results of the first tests released in July.
During clinical trials conducted by Oxford experts with 1,077 volunteers, the vaccine produced antibodies and white blood cells that can fight the virus.
This potential vaccine is currently in phase 3 of clinical trials, the last before receiving approval from regulatory authorities.
The covid-19 pandemic has already claimed at least 809,000 deaths and infected more than 23.4 million people in 196 countries and territories, according to a report by the French agency AFP.
The disease is transmitted by a new coronavirus detected in late December in Wuhan, a city in central China.
After Europe succeeded China as the center of the pandemic in February, the American continent is now the one with the most confirmed cases and the most deaths.
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