Bahrain approves new treatment for COVID-19

Dubai: Bahrain has granted the emergency use of ‘Sotrovimab’, a new drug developed by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), to treat people infected with the COVID-19, official news agency reported.

The decision to add Sotrovimab to COVID-19 treatment protocols follows emergency use approval by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as well as a comprehensive review of GSK’s clinical trials.

Sotrovimab-VIR-7831 develops “monoclonal antibodies” and will be used to treat infected adults and adolescents with mild to moderate COVID-19 symptoms who are at risk of their condition deteriorating and resulting in hospitalisation.

Safety and efficacy evidence demonstrates a reduction in the number of cases requiring hospitalisation for more than 24 hours and a reduction in the number of fatalities by 85 per cent when administered at an early stage of treatment. Bahrain has authorised the emergency use of six vaccines, namely Sinopharm, Pfizer/BioNTech, AstraZeneca’s Covishield, Johnson & Johnson, Sputnik V and Sputnik Light.

Bahrain is the third GCC country to approve the emergency use of Sotrovimab’. Earlier last week, the UAE and Kuwait gave the green signal to Sotrovimab to treat COVID-19 patients. UAE became the first country in the world to approve the drug for emergency use, following the US food and drug administration.