Hu­mani­gen de­clares win in se­vere Covid-19, de­liv­er­ing much-need­ed pan­dem­ic weapon and vault­ing ahead on post-Shkre­li turn­around

Hu­mani­gen, the one-time Mar­tin Shkre­li-run biotech, an­nounced that its an­ti­body helped keep pa­tients with Covid-19 off ven­ti­la­tion in a Phase III tri­al, po­ten­tial­ly giv­ing doc­tors just their sec­ond proven tool for help­ing pa­tients with se­vere dis­ease.

Hu­mani­gen said that in the 520-per­son, place­bo-con­trolled study, the drug lenzilum­ab im­proved the odds of ven­ti­la­tor-free sur­vival by 54%. In the place­bo arm, 22.1% of pa­tients ei­ther died or went on a ven­ti­la­tor with­in 28 days of treat­ment. In the drug arm, on­ly 15.6% did.

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