Regeneron Pharmaceuticals now offers long-term immunity against COVID-19

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: REGN) on Monday said a single dose of REGEN-COV triggers long-term immunity against COVID-19. Shares of the biotech company were up more than 1.0% in premarket trading.

An 81.6% reduced risk of contracting COVID-19

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals reported data from its late-stage trial this morning that showed its single-dose antibody cocktail makes people 81.6% less likely to contract COVID-19 in the next two to eight months.

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The treatment group, as per the biotech company, did not report any hospitalisation related to COVID-19 during the eight-month period, versus six reported in the placebo group. The news comes only days after Dr Scott Gottlieb said the end of the pandemic, at least in the United States, was in sight.  

Regeneron had initially secured authorisation for REGEN-COV as a treatment for mild-to-moderate COVID in November of 2020. Months later in July, the U.S. FDA gave the green signal to use the antibody cocktail as a preventive treatment in the high-risk population.

People not responding to COVID-19 vaccines can relax

Previously, REGEN-COV was shown to reduce the risk of COVID-19 by 81.4% in a month after vaccination. The latest data, however, suggests Regeneron’s antibody cocktail offers longer-term protection against the virus.

Commenting on the news, Dr Myron S. Cohen, who leads the monoclonal antibody efforts for the NIH-sponsored COVID Prevention Network (CoVPN), said:

These results demonstrate that REGEN-COV has the potential to provide long-lasting immunity from SARS-CoV-2 infection, a result particularly important to those who do not respond to COVID-19 vaccines, including people who are immunocompromised.

The news comes only days after Regeneron Pharmaceuticals reported market-beating results for its fiscal third-quarter attributed primarily to an $804 million boost from sales of its COVID treatment.