04:43 AM EDT, 10/18/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Merck ( MRK ) late Thursday reported "positive" results from a phase 2b/3 clinical trial evaluating its investigational clesrovimab therapy to protect infants from respiratory syncytial virus disease.

The company said clesrovimab reduced RSV-associated hospitalizations, the trial's secondary endpoint, and RSV-associated lower respiratory infection hospitalizations, the tertiary endpoint, by more than 84% and 90%, respectively, through five months.

The incidence of adverse events and serious AEs were "comparable" between the clesrovimab and placebo groups, and there were no treatment or RSV-related deaths during the study, the company said.

Merck ( MRK ) also disclosed data from a planned interim analysis of a phase 3 trial evaluating the safety and efficacy of clesrovimab versus palivizumab in infants and children at increased risk for severe RSV disease. Interim results showed that clesrovimab had a comparable safety profile to palivizumab, with no drug-related serious AEs reported.

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