GSK, which prevents 85% of deaths from COVID-19

Emirates becomes first country to approve emergency GSK therapy

photo_camera AFP/KARIM SAHIB - COVID Vaccination Room -19 in the Dubai Financial Centre

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Ministry of Health on Saturday became the first country in the world to approve on an emergency basis the monoclonal antibody 'sotrovimab' developed by the British group GSK, which prevents 85% of COVID-19 deaths, according to the UAE's state-run WAM news agency.

According to WAM, Health approved "emergency use of a new, highly effective treatment for COVID-19, becoming the first country in the world to license and allow immediate use" of the antibody, which was cleared for emergency use by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The new treatment, developed by GSK and US-based Vir Biotechnology, called sotrovimab (Vir-7831), can reduce hospitalisations for more than 24 hours and deaths by up to 85% when given to patients as therapy for COVID-19.

AFP/KARIM SAHIB  -   EAU es el primer país árabe en vacunar contra el coronavirus

According to WAM, Emirates has authorised the emergency use of sotrovimab "for the treatment of patients aged 12 years and older" with "mild to moderate" disease who are "at risk of progression to hospitalisation or death".

According to the agency, in pre-clinical studies "sotrovimab has demonstrated efficacy as monotherapy against widely circulating variants of the disease".

The UAE was one of the first countries in the world to emergency license some of the vaccines now available when they were in the trial phase, such as the Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinopharm's inactivated virus dose.

In fact, phase 3 clinical trials of this vaccine involved 31,000 volunteers of 125 nationalities in the UAE alone.

The Arab country, which has a population of 10 million people, is one of the world's leading vaccination states and its authorities claim that more than 70 % of its eligible inhabitants are already vaccinated.
 

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