LAUSR

From January to March 2022, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) Delta (B.1.617.2) infection was prevalent in Yuzhou and Zhengzhou. DXP‐604 is a broad‐spectrum antiviral monoclonal antibody, which has excellent viral neutralization ability in vitro and a long half‐life in vivo, with good biosafety and tolerability. Preliminary results showed that DXP‐604 can accelerate recovery from Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) caused by SARS‐CoV‐2 Delta variant in hospitalized patients with mild to moderate clinical symptoms. However, the efficacy of DXP‐604 has not been fully studied in high‐risk severe patients. Here, we prospectively enrolled 27 high‐risk patients, two groups were divided, in addition to receiving standard of care (SOC), 14 of them additionally received the neutralizing antibody DXP‐604 therapy, and another 13 intensive care unit (ICU) patients simultaneously underwent SOC as a control group matched for age, gender, and clinical type. The results revealed lower C‐reactive protein, interleukin‐6, lactic dehydrogenase and neutrophil counts, and higher lymphocyte and monocyte counts from Day 3 post‐DXP‐604 treatment compared with SOC treatment. Besides, thoracic CT images showed improvements in lesion areas and degrees, along with changes in blood inflammatory factors. Moreover, DXP‐604 reduced the invasive mechanical ventilation and mortality of high‐risk SARS‐CoV‐2 infected patients. The ongoing clinical trials of DXP‐604 neutralizing antibody will clarify its utility as a new attractive countermeasure for high‐risk COVID‐19.