London: A new life-saving antibody treatment is set to be adopted in the UK, which will benefit thousands of health service patients in hospitals vulnerable to COVID-19.
Ronapreve, which is a combination of two monoclonal antibodies, will be initially administered to those hospitalized patients who have not developed antibody response against the coronavirus, reported PTI.
Though the UK is trying it for the first time, the drug was given to former US President Donald Trump as a suite of experimental medicines when he tested COVID-positive last year.
“We have secured a brand new treatment for our most vulnerable patients in hospitals across the UK and I am thrilled to say it will be saving lives from as early as next week,” said UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid.
People who are immunocompromised, like cancer or autoimmune disease patients – who can’t build antibody response to coronavirus — will be targeted.
“Ronapreve is the first dedicated medicine developed for COVID-19 to receive marketing authorisation from the MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency), representing a significant milestone in how the NHS is able to fight this disease,” COVID-19 Lead at Roche Products Ltd Paul McManus said.
