A NEW drug first trialled by research staff at a Teesside NHS trust has been found to reduce deaths from Covid-19 by a fifth in the sickest patients.

The new successful monoclonal antibody combination was first tested on a patient at North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust last year - through the research team’s involvement in the national Recovery Trial, run by Oxford University.

The new medication developed by Regeneron is given as a single infusion, working by binding to the virus to inactivate it.

For patients requiring hospital treatment for Covid-19 who do not already have antibodies against the virus, the medication significantly reduces the risk of dying.

Since the University Hospital of North Tees starting using the medication, nearly 5,000 patients were given it through the trial.

In the trial, deaths of those who had no antibodies of their own were reduced from 30 per cent to 24 per cent – saving six lives in every 100 patients.

Their stay in hospital was cut by up to four days on average and they were less likely to end up on a ventilator.