Eli Lilly halts late stage trial into Covid-19 antibody treatment, but 'confident' it works

Eli Lilly and researchers at the National Institutes of Health have paused a late-stage clinical trial into a combination of the company's antibody treatment against Covid-19 in combination with Gilead Science's Remdesivir in severely ill patients.

The decision came after determining that there was "insufficient evidence" that the combined treatment was unlikely to prove effective.

It also followed a pause in the trial two weeks before due to a potential safety concern.

Nevertheless, the treatment was now deemed to be safe and the drug giant said it was "confident" that the therapy could keep Covid-19 from progressing to more severe stages.

Indeed, other trials to ascertain just that were set to continue, including a phase two study of non-hospitalised patients who had recently been diagnosed with the infection and a phase three study looking into its potential benefits for residents and staff at hospitals.

The company's assertion regarding the treatment's efficacy was based on data from its phase two study.