A recent phase 3 study published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, revealed the effectiveness of tixagevimab–cilgavimab for treating hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

In the study, patients who had SARS-CoV-2 symptoms for at least 12 days and were hospitalized for COVID-19 infection were included. Tixagevimab-cilgavimab having a half-life of about 90 days was administered to 710 patients, while a placebo was given to 707 patients. 

It was observed that at day 90, SARS-CoV-2 recoveries were 89% for the tixagevimab-cilgavimab group and 86% for the placebo group. When administered as pre-exposure prophylaxis, tixagevimab-cilgavimab prevented symptomatic COVID-19. Additionally, when administered during early SARS-CoV-2 infection, it reduced hospitalizations in non-hospitalized subjects by more than 50% and maintained antiviral activity against Omicron variants. When compared to the placebo group, which had a mortality rate of 12 %, the tixagevimab-cilgavimab group′s death rate was 9 %.

Thus the study concluded that the tixagevimab-cilgavimab combination did not improve the primary result but was safe and reduced mortality among COVID-19 hospitalized patients taking remdesivir and other standard medication. (News-medical.net; Jul 13 2022)