COVID-19 antibodies wear off over time: study

Yahoo Finance’s Alexis Christoforous, Brian Sozzi, and Anjalee Khemlani discuss COVID-19 reinfection and the earnings report for Eli Lilly and Pfizer.

Video Transcript

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: There are concerns about this-- the spike in coronavirus infections in the US and Europe. That's partly why stocks have been under pressure, especially yesterday when we saw the downfall, more than 600 points. There is a new study out today in England that found that the virus immunity does wear off over time.

It's something that doctors had warned about and that we had feared. Yahoo Finance's health care reporter, Anjalee Khemlani, here with the details. Good morning, Anjalee. So tell us more about this study.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Good morning, Alexis. Thank you. Yes, so as you mentioned, it is exactly what experts have been saying for some time, should be the case, would be the case with coronavirus that it doesn't-- the antibodies that you build up after being infected will wear off over time. And the reason why this is important is because it plays a role in how the vaccine studies will then progress and our understanding of what sort of protection any vaccine can give.

As it stands right now, the study from Imperial College London showed that the antibodies waned over a period of two to three months. And they went down about 26% overall. And so that's it-- that's an interesting-- this is across age groups, by the way. And we saw, you know, a difference in say the younger population, which build up higher antibodies, versus the older age group, which had lower antibody build up, but it's still waning in about the same time period. So all of this translating to really interesting sort of information to use when we get to the point of having a vaccine.

BRIAN SOZZI: And Anjalee, sum up some pharma earnings out this morning. What you see?

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Absolutely, so we've got Merck and Pfizer out. Pfizer interesting with sort of a mixed results, still looking at that spinoff from Upjohn and the effect of that to the note in the earnings report today, saying that if that's finalized by the end of the year, all of the earnings projections will be overstated. So keep an eye out for that. Meanwhile, still waiting to hear on the coronavirus vaccine that they have.

The Pfizer candidate, of course, is that lead in the US right now, so we're waiting to hear on the results of that. As of now, there have been no interim study results, you know, done yet, but we're waiting for that more to the middle of November, third week of November. That's when we'll get those results. And that's when we'll be able to know if the company can, in fact, file immediately after for the emergency use authorization. Potentially putting them in the spot to be the first authorized vaccine by the end of this year.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: I want to ask you about Lilly and what it's doing with its antibody trial. I know that it was going through testing in hospitalized COVID-19 patients, but it has stopped that testing right now, right?

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: It has indeed, yes. And this comes from a report that we saw that had less than favorable results on the treatments. And so, what they're doing right now is actually sort of the responsible route of halting and not using that any further.

But still saying that they have some hope in the treatment itself for non-hospitalized, or more moderate, patients. So as it stands right now, it sort of puts into light what we've seen is that many of the treatments have targeted these hospitalized patients. And so there is more room for treatments for patients who are not in the hospital.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: All right. Anjalee Khemlani, thank you.