Select campus:UKDubai
University of Birmingham
Menu

Antibody therapies against Covid-19 for most vulnerable patients work, new analysis finds

The largest analysis of data on antibody therapies for protecting clinically extremely vulnerable people from Covid-19 shows that they are effective.

8 November 2022
Woman wearing protective filter face mask standing behind pane of glass looking outside

More than 500,000 people in the UK continue to shield or take extra precautions due to being clinically vulnerable to COVID-19

The largest analysis of data on antibody therapies for protecting clinically extremely vulnerable people from Covid-19 shows that they are effective, a new study has found.

Published as a pre-print ahead of peer review, the global meta-analysis of 17 existing studies found that prophylactic antibody therapies such as Evusheld are:

  • 86% effective for preventing COVID-19 death,
  • 88% effective in preventing intensive care admission,
  • 69% effective in preventing a hospital admission, and
  • 40% effective in preventing infections.

The systematic review analyses the outcomes of 24,773 immunocompromised patients across 17 clinical studies from across the world. Led by the University of Birmingham alongside academics from King’s College London, the findings are the largest meta-analysis of studies about antibody therapies for immunocompromised and immunosuppressed patients to date.

The paper also draws on newer studies relating to the effectiveness of treatments such as Evusheld during the widespread Omicron variant of Covid-19, which shows that the therapies continue to be clinically important as SARS-COV-2 continues to mutate.

Dr Lennard Lee is a senior research fellow at the University of Birmingham and academic medical oncologist at the University of Oxford, and was the study’s senior investigator.

Dr Lee said: “There is strong evidence emerging across the world that this approach of using prophylactic antibody therapies in combination with vaccination is a revolutionary approach to safeguard the most vulnerable patients this winter. The science and data suggest that it would be a successful approach for many cancer and immunocompromised patients at the highest level of risk”.

Lord Mendelsohn, Co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Vulnerable Groups to Pandemics, who commissioned this review said: “This paper is incredibly important as it has reviewed the evidence from across the world. It will provide the evidence to help our government decision makers assess the science on measures to protect the immunocompromised this winter.”

Notes for editors

For media enquiries please contact Tim Mayo, Press Office, University of Birmingham, tel: +44 (0)7920 405040.

The University of Birmingham is ranked amongst the world’s top 100 institutions. Its work brings people from across the world to Birmingham, including researchers, teachers and more than 6,500 international students from over 150 countries.

The University of Birmingham is a founding member of Birmingham Health Partners (BHP), a strategic alliance which transcends organisational boundaries to rapidly translate healthcare research findings into new diagnostics, drugs and devices for patients. Birmingham Health Partners is a strategic alliance between seven organisations who collaborate to bring healthcare innovations through to clinical application:

  • University of Birmingham
  • University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust
  • Birmingham Women's and Children's Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • Aston University
  • The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
  • Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust
  • West Midlands Academic Health Science Network

Further information about the study:

  • Patients can be immunocompromised because they have cancer or blood cancer, organ transplant, autoimmune disease, renal disease or primary immunodeficiencies. They may also be immunocompromised because of the treatments they are on, like chemotherapy, steroids or immunomodulators.
  • Tixagevimab/Cilgavimab, (Evusheld) is given as a single intramuscular injection and provides six months worth of protection. It is being given in other countries like the United States, France and Israel.
  • The All Party Parliamentary Group for vulnerable groups in the pandemic is a cross-party group of UK Parliamentarians representing the interests of people with underlying health conditions vulnerable to pandemic. They promote a greater priority for prevention, treatment and support for those groups and to ensure that they are considered in policy making and emergency procedures set up to deal with pandemics.

Featured staff

  • Professor Alex Richter

    Director of the Clinical Immunology Services

    Staff profile for Professor Alex Richter, Director of the Clinical Immunology Services, Professor and Honorary Consultant in Clinical Immunology, College of Medicine and Health, University of Birmingham.

    Phone: +44(0)121 414 4069
    Email: a.g.richter@bham.ac.uk

More in Health & medicine