Coronavirus: UAE finds sotrovimab drug is 100 per cent successful at preventing deaths

It was also 99 per cent effective at stopping admissions to intensive care

Sotrovimab was prescribed to patients in UAE who are at high risk of suffering Covid-19 complications. Early use of the drug cuts deaths by as much as 85 per cent.

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An antiviral drug used to treat Covid-19 has proven to be very effective at preventing deaths and hospital admissions among coronavirus patients.

Between 30 June and 13 July, 6,175 patients in the UAE received sotrovimab.

The drug was 100 per cent successful in preventing deaths and 99 per cent effective in stopping admissions to intensive care, authorities said.

Close to 97 per cent of recipients fully recovered within 14 days, which was in line with previous findings.

The results were announced on Saturday by the Ministry of Health and Prevention, in collaboration with Abu Dhabi’s Department of Health and Dubai Health Authority.

The MoHAP has approved the use of Sotrovimab, produced by global biopharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). It has also been approved for emergency use by the US Food and Drug Administration.

About 52 per cent of patients were aged 50 or above and almost all recipients had a comorbidity such as obesity, cancer, cardiovascular disease or diabetes.

The UAE was one of the first countries in the world to receive sotrovimab.

The shipment, in mid-June, came after an agreement between the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi, Rafed – a group purchasing organisation – GSK and Etihad Cargo.

A separate study conducted by the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi found eight per cent of patients suffered from long Covid.

Feeling tired was the most commonly experienced after-effect.