The pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca announced it was seeking authorization for usage in US of a medicine related to the treatment from coronavirus infection. The medicine is aimed to prevent Covid-19 for people who respond poorly or do not respond at all to vaccines because of a weakened immune system, Reuters reported.

In an official statement the Anglo-Swedish company confirmed that it included data in its filing with the Food and Drug Administration from a late-stage trial that showed the medicine reduced the risk of people developing any Covid-19 symptoms by 77%. The antibody therapy called AZD7442 could protect people who do not have a strong enough immune response to Covid-19 vaccines or to supplement a vaccination course for those, such as military personnel, who need to booster their protection further, AstraZeneca said. While vaccines rely on an intact immune system to develop targeted antibodies and infection-fighting cells, AZD7442 contains lab-made antibodies designed to stay in the body for months to contain the virus in case of an infection.

A US authorisation for AZD7442 - based on two antibodies discovered by Vanderbilt University Medical Center in the United States - could be a major win for AstraZeneca, whose widely used Covid-19 vaccine has yet to be approved by US authorities. Talks related to supply agreements for AZD7442 are ongoing with the United States and other governments, AstraZeneca said. Covid-19 therapies based on the same class of monoclonal antibodies are being developed by Regeneron, Eli Lilly and GlaxoSmithKline, all competing for a role in Covid-19 treatment and prevention. But Astra's filing has cemented its lead in prevention. That contrasts with delays in Astra's quest for approval for its Covid-19 vaccine Vaxzevria in the United States, where the vast majority of those willing to get immunised have received shots from the Pfizer-BioNTech alliance, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson./Europost