The trials for antibody treatment that was touted as a cure by US President Donald Trump has been suspended by the US pharmaceutical firm, Eli Lilly, citing safety concerns.
This comes just a day after Johnson and Johnson temporarily paused its COVID-19 vaccine trial. Earlier in September, AstraZeneca-Oxford's paused its COVID-19 trial.
This was the government-sponsored Phase 3 of the trials.
Last month, Lilly had sought emergency use authorisation (EUA) for the antibody drug, LY-CoV555.
On 2 October, the President of the United States was given a dose of an experimental drug that only a handful of patients had received outside of clinical trials. He had hailed that as a COVID cure.
In an email statement to Reuters, Lilly spokeswoman Molly McCully said, “Out of an abundance of caution, the ACTIV-3 independent data safety monitoring board (DSMB) has recommended a pause in enrolment. Lilly is supportive of the decision by the independent DSMB to cautiously ensure the safety of the patients participating in this study.”
Lilly has not officially commented on the implications for the paused trial.
It's important to note that pausing trials is not uncommon as they need to adhere to international standards.
Countries around the world are working on COVID vaccines as cases have been rising exponentially, with over 38 million coronavirus cases and nearly two million deaths.