In a new study, researchers found that treatment with drugs bamlanivimab and etesevimab, but not monotherapy with bamlanivimab, is linked to a reduction in SARS-CoV-2 viral load in people with mild-to-moderate COVID-19.
The research was conducted by a team from the Baylor University Medical Center and elsewhere.
In the study, the team assigned 577 patients who tested positive for COVID-19 and had one or more mild-to-moderate symptoms to receive either a single infusion of bamlanivimab monotherapy, combination treatment (2,800 mg bamlanivimab and 2,800 mg etesevimab), or placebo.
They found there was no big difference in change in viral load with 3 different doses of bamlanivimab monotherapy compared with placebo.
But treatment with a combination of bamlanivimab and etesevimab strongly decreased SARS-CoV-2 log viral load at day 11 compared with placebo.
This suggests that treatment with bamlanivimab and etesevimab combination, but not bamlanivimab monotherapy, can help lower SARS-CoV-2 log viral load in people with mild to moderate COVID-19.
One author of the study is Robert L. Gottlieb, M.D., Ph.D.
The study is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
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