In the face of the Omicron strain, the UK regulator has approved a drug that its manufacturers, GlaxoSmithKline, claim reduces hopsitalisations and deaths by 79 per cent. The MHRA announced this morning that it had given the NHS approval to start administering the Xevudy antibody drug to everyone over 12. The drug has been sanctioned for use in patients with ‘mild or moderate’ Covid who are at risk of developing severe illness.
It is the second treatment of its kind to be approved after Roche’s Ronapreve was given the green light in August. Both treatments are ‘monoclonal antibodies’, and work by binding to the spike protein of the virus and blocking its ability to enter human cells. The regulator reviewed a trial including 1,057 volunteers and found that Xevudy cut the risk of hospitalisation and deaths in high-risk adults by 79 per cent. Just six of the participants who received the drug were hospitalised, compared with 30 in the placebo group.
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