What you need to know about the COVID-19 antibody cocktail treatment
It has been a year and a half since the pandemic has struck us and scientists have been developing new methods to treat the illness.
The latest treatment developed by Regeneron and Roche- the COVID-19 antibody cocktail treatment- arrived in Singapore one month ago and can be used to treat patients who are mildly sick but at risk of developing severe consequences.
According to a news report by Channel News Asia, Regeneron’s therapy showed 72 per cent protection against symptomatic infection in the first week, and 93 per cent after that.
An ongoing study that is under review by HSA has shown that this antibody cocktail treatment reduces the disk of COVID-19 disease progression that requires intense care or results in death by 70 per cent, compared to those who were placed in the placebo group. Furthermore, those who were experiencing COVID-19 symptoms found themselves recovering at an average of four days earlier compared to the placebo group.
Singapore’s Health Sciences Authority (HSA) has granted interim authorisation under its Pandemic Special Access Route for the COVID-19 antibody cocktail treatment to be used on patients who are experiencing mild to moderate COVID-19 symptoms. To specify, only those who are 18 years old and older, who are not under oxygen supplementation and hold a possible chance of the virus progressing to more severe symptoms, are allowed to use this treatment.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) panel also recommended to use this treatment only on patients who are at high risk of hospitalisation and those who experience severe symptoms.
The same treatment was granted US emergency use authorisation while it is under review in Europe, while Britain has already approved it in August 2021.
Other COVID-19 treatments
Besides the latest COVID-19 antibody cocktail treatment, here is a list of drugs doctors have been using to treat patients who have contracted the virus: Antibody drug sotrovimab, Arthritis drug tocilizumab and steroid dexamethasone, Antiviral drug remdesivir, Ivermectin, Anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, antiretroviral drugs and Gout medication probenecid.
Being fully-vaccinated is also an effective treatment as it lowers the chances of you contracting it in the first place. Furthermore, on the occasion that you do contract the virus after being fully-vaccinated, it can lessen the severity of your symptoms, according to experts and published data on the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) website.
This is evident from the reports which indicated that out of 610 local cases since 28 April who were not vaccinated, 9.2 per cent developed serious illness and 6 died due to COVID-19-related complications whereas there were no fatalities reported from the pool of 289 patients who have received one or two doses of the vaccine (Lim, 2021).