The company said in a press release that new results from its Phase III clinical trials showed that a single dose of its REGEN-COV antibody treatment reduced the risk of contracting COVID-19 by 81.6 percent two to eight months after administration. One month after administration, the antibody treatment reduced the risk by 81.4 percent.

“In this trial, a single dose of REGEN-COV provided long-term protection against COVID-19, including times of particularly high risk from household exposure, and in the longer term during ongoing broader exposure,” said Dr. George Yancopoulos, president and chief scientific officer at Regeneron.

“These data add to the increasing body of evidence supporting use of REGEN-COV to prevent COVID-19 in uninfected individuals, which may be especially useful for the many immunocompromised people who do not respond adequately to vaccines and remain ‘prisoners of the pandemic,’” he added.

The trial consisted of 1,683 people who were not infected with COVID-19 or had antibodies for the coronavirus, the company said. For eight months, half of the participants received a 1,200-milligram dose of REGEN-COV, while the other half received a placebo.

“During the eight-month assessment period, 0 individuals in the REGEN-COV group were hospitalized due to COVID-19, compared to 6 individuals in the placebo group,” Regeneron said. “There were no deaths due to COVID-19 in any treatment group during the 8-month assessment period, and there were no new safety signals identified for REGEN-COV.”

Earlier this year, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an emergency use authorization for Regeneron’s antibody cocktail, allowing its use in certain individuals at high risk of contracting COVID-19.

During a recent appearance on CNBC’s Squawk Box, Regeneron CEO Len Schleifer said that the antibody cocktail could “maybe” be used as an alternative to receiving the COVID-19 vaccine for certain people who were against receiving the shot.

“We believe in vaccines, and so we don’t think from a public health and population point of view that [we] can make enough antibodies at an affordable price to use them in a broad sense,” Schleifer said.

“But treating people on a selected basis, sometimes we have to be a little more compassionate,” he continued. “People might not want to be vaccinated. We have to understand that. Maybe if you’re in the military or you’re a teacher or you’re on the front line and you legitimately have this fear, maybe this could be offered as an alternative. It’s something we have to discuss.”

Newsweek was directed to the press release after reaching out to Regeneron for further comment.