Sarasota Memorial Hospital (SMH) is now enrolling healthy adults in a clinical trial to test 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 country enrolling as many as 2,000 healthy people in Regeneron Pharmaceuticals’ Phase III prevention study. This new study is similar but separate from Regeneron's current Phase II and Phase III trials, which evaluate Regeneron’s antibody cocktail in treating hospitalized and non-hospitalized patients with Covid-19.

SMH infectious disease specialist Dr. Manuel Gordillo says 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,” Gordillo says.

For more information about SMH's Covid-19 clinical trials, call (941) 917-2225 Monday-Friday (8 a.m.-3 p.m.). Additional details about the prevention trial are available at www.clinicaltrials.gov using the identifier NCT04452318.