SMH Begins Enrolling Healthy Adults in Experimental Antibody Trial to Prevent COVID-19

SARASOTA, Fla. (August 13, 2020)- Sarasota Memorial Hospital is now enrolling healthy adults in a clinical trial testing whether an experimental antibody cocktail can prevent infection by SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

SMH is one of about 100 locations across the nation enrolling as many as 2,000 healthy people in Regeneron Pharmaceuticals’ Phase III Prevention study. The monoclonal antibody study is similar, but separate from Phase II/III trials now under way evaluating Regeneron’s antibody cocktail in treating hospitalized and non-hospitalized patients with COVID-19.

Infectious Disease specialist Manuel Gordillo, MD, principal investigator of the three monoclonal antibody trials at SMH, said the studies should prove relatively quickly whether the lab-created antibody cocktail is effective at both preventing and treating the disease. Results are expected within the next few months, possibly ahead of results from vaccine trials.

“If the results replicate earlier success in laboratory tests, these antibodies have the potential to serve as an important bridge to reduce the spread of the virus and severity of the disease until a vaccine becomes available,” Dr. Gordillo said.

Like its two treatment trials, Regeneron’s prevention study is a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical trial, in which participants receive either the REGN-CoV-2 antibody or a placebo. To qualify for the Prevention trial, participants must have no symptoms of illness and must have been in close contact (typically residing in the same household) with an infected person in a 96-hour window prior to receiving the REGN-CoV-2 antibody treatment or placebo. All participants will be followed for safety for seven months after a month-long efficacy assessment period ends.

For more information about COVID-19 clinical trials available through Sarasota Memorial’s Clinical Research Center, call 941-917-2225 Monday-Friday (8am-3pm).

Additional details about the prevention trial are available at www.clinicaltrials.gov using the identifier NCT04452318.