Amid rising concerns over the Omicron variant, the United Kingdom has approved a new COVID-19 treatment that could offer hope to high-risk patients worldwide. The drug, known as sotrovimab and branded as Xevudy, is developed by pharmaceutical companies GSK and Vir Biotechnology.
Sotrovimab is intended for individuals with mild to moderate COVID-19 who are at high risk of developing severe disease. In clinical trials, a single dose of the medication was found to reduce the risk of hospitalization and death by 79 percent among high-risk adults exhibiting coronavirus symptoms.
While the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency acknowledged that it is too early to determine the drug’s effectiveness against the Omicron variant, the developers remain optimistic. GSK and Vir Biotechnology stated that preclinical data suggest sotrovimab retains activity against all tested variants of concern, including key mutations present in Omicron.
“Sotrovimab was deliberately designed with a mutating virus in mind,” said George Scangos, CEO of Vir Biotechnology, highlighting the drug’s potential resilience against emerging variants.
In addition to approving the new treatment, the UK government has secured an additional 114 million COVID-19 vaccine doses from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, to be delivered in 2022 and 2023. Health Secretary Sajid Javid commented, “The new deals will future-proof the Great British vaccination effort – which has so far delivered more than 115 million first, second, and booster jabs.”
However, the World Health Organization has criticized wealthier nations for stockpiling vaccines while many poorer countries struggle to obtain sufficient supplies. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme, stated, “It’s tough for some countries who have huge amounts of excess vaccine to decide who to give it to—but that’s not the problem being faced by a lot of countries around the world who can’t get even primary vaccination to their most vulnerable.”
The UK is preparing for a potential surge in Omicron cases, with 32 confirmed instances reported in England and Scotland as of Thursday morning. These cases include infections in major cities such as London, Liverpool, and Nottingham.
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
