Domestic COVID Antibody Treatment Halves the Probability of Symptom Worsening

Celltrion's Developed Antibody Therapy, Clinical Trial Results Released

Celltrion's COVID-19 antibody treatment 'Rekkirona'

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] Clinical trial results have shown that the antibody treatment for COVID-19 developed by Celltrion reduces the incidence of severe cases by about half. It also shortened the recovery time.

Celltrion disclosed the global Phase 2 clinical trial results of 'Rekkironaju (Regdanvimab, development code CT-P59)' on the 13th. This drug, currently under review by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, is an antibody treatment created by selecting neutralizing antibodies from the blood of recovered COVID-19 patients. The clinical trial was conducted on a total of 327 participants in South Korea, Romania, Spain, and the United States until late November last year.

The results were derived from 307 participants whose COVID-19 infection was confirmed immediately before administration. Among the clinical trial subjects, moderate cases were patients with pneumonia, accounting for about 60% of the population.

The clinical trial results showed that Rekkironaju reduced the incidence of severe cases requiring hospitalization by 54% in all patients and by 68% in moderate cases aged 50 and over. Professor Eom Jung-sik of Gachon University Gil Medical Center’s Department of Infectious Diseases, who announced the results, said, "The key point of this study was how much the drug prevented progression to severe disease when administered early in COVID-19 infection," adding, "Especially in those aged 50 and above, the incidence of severe cases was reduced by more than half."

The time to clinical recovery, or the disappearance of symptoms, was 5.4 days in the Rekkironaju group and 8.8 days in the placebo group, reducing recovery time by more than 3 days with Rekkironaju administration. In particular, in moderate or moderate cases aged 50 and above, the time to clinical recovery was shortened by more than 5 to 6 days compared to the placebo group. The viral load in the body decreased faster upon administration, showing a lower viral concentration at day 7 compared to the placebo group. There were no serious adverse reactions, deaths, or study discontinuations due to adverse reactions during the clinical trial.

The company plans to conduct additional verification through Phase 3 clinical trials at more than 10 sites worldwide. The study results were recently published in the scientific journal Nature Communications.