|
 The group, known as the CoVIg Plasma Alliance, enrolled its first
patient in the Phase III trial on Friday after months of delays. It
aims to enroll 500 adult patients from the United States, Mexico and
16 other countries and hope to have results by the end of the year.
"The likelihood it works is very high," Weber said in an interview.
"And that's why we have launched a campaign in order to accelerate
the donation of convalescent plasma to manufacture and produce this
product."
The alliance, which includes CSL Behring, Germany's Biotest AG and
other companies, is testing a hyperimmune globulin therapy, which is
derived from blood plasma of people who have recovered from
COVID-19. Hyperimmune globulin therapy offers a standardized dose of
antibodies and does not need to be limited to patients with matching
blood types.
That makes it more advanced and convenient than treatment with
convalescent plasma drawn from recovered patients.
[to top of second column] |
The manufacturing process is expensive.
Weber said the treatment could be slightly more costly to make than monoclonal
antibody treatments like the ones Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc and Eli Lilly
and Co have developed. The alliance does not intend to profit from the
treatment, Weber said.
The Takeda CEO said he does not know how many doses of the treatment the group
will be able to produce by the end of the year. That will depend on donations as
well as the dosage size they decide to test in the clinical trial.
The trial will test the hyperimmune globulin therapy in combination with Gilead
Sciences Inc's antiviral drug remdesivir compared with patients who get
remdesivir alone, he said.
(Reporting by Michael Erman; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
[© 2020 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2020 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |
