Astrazeneca plc led the handful of firms rolling out COVID-19-related news, as the company said detailed results from the Provent phase III pre-exposure prophylaxis (prevention) trial with Evusheld (tixagevimab and cilgavimab), were published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the “culmination of about 19 months of pretty intensive work,” said Mark Esser, vice president of microbial sciences.