Several patients in the UAE have started to receive treatment from the new antiviral drug for COVID-19.
The UAE is the first country in the world to receive Sotrovimab, developed by global innovative biopharmaceutical company, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).
In a radio interview, Dr Omar Najim, executive office director at Abu Dhabi’s Department of Health, said the revolutionary drug will be administered to high-risk coronavirus patients with mild to moderate symptoms.
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The intravenous drug have shown it can prevent extreme illness and death in 85 % of early treatment cases.
The UAE approved the for both license and enable immediate patient use after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave an emergency use authorisation to the treatment.
Dr. Najim said Sotrovimab will be used as early treatment for patients aged 12 years or older with mild to moderate COVID-19 disease who are at risk of progression to hospitalisation or death.
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He further said that the treatment is proven to be most effective with high risk patients or the ones with underlying conditions such as blood pressure, diabetes, and immune deficiency diseases.
Dr Najim added that based on latest scientific data, the antiviral drug works on new variants of COVID-19 including the Delta, Alpha, and Beta variants. (RA)
