Sotrovimab: Dr Nighat discusses new Covid drug on This Morning
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A new COVID-19 treatment in the form of a drug has been approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The drug, which can cut your risk of dying from Covid by a staggering 79 percent, was found to be safe and effective by the UK regulator.
Dr Nighat said: “The new drug – sotrovimab – which is a monoclonal antibody reduces death from Covid by [almost] 80 percent.
“We need to get more data on this. I, as a doctor, need to look at the risks and side effects.
“But actually, before we are given any medication, the best thing is vaccination and keeping up with public measures.”
Dr Nighat shared further advice on Omicron.
The new antibody treatment is supposed to be most effective during the early stages of Covid.
The drug has been approved for use in people, who are most at risk of serious complications linked to coronavirus.
MHRA said in a statement: “In a clinical trial, a single dose of the monoclonal antibody was found to reduce the risk of hospitalisation and death by 79% in high-risk adults with symptomatic COVID-19 infection.
“Based on the clinical trial data, sotrovimab is most effective when taken during the early stages of infection and so the MHRA recommends its use as soon as possible and within five days of symptom onset.”
The new drug was developed by pharmaceutical firms GSK and Vir Biotechnology.
It works by binding to the spike protein on the outside of the virus.
Spike protein is kind of like a key that Covid uses to unlock our cells.
So sotrovimab’s ability to bind to the spike protein prevents the virus from attaching to and entering human cells, making it unable to replicate in the body.
Even though the data behind this new Covid breakthrough drug seems promising, Dr Nighat suggested other precautions for protection from the virus.
She said: “The things we can do to safeguard ourselves are going to be washing our hands, wearing a mask, because we know Covid is airborne.
“If you have symptoms, please get a PCR test.
“If you don’t have symptoms, do twice weekly later flow test, that is really important.”
“Because among Covid, we have flu, we have norovirus…pneumonia is going around,” the doctor added during the health segment.
Other tips she gave included sitting in ventilated places and physically distancing as much as possible.
She explained: “So all those public health measures, which are tried and tested, and they work, we just need to be keeping up with those.”
Dr Nighat advised following all these rules even when it comes to the new Covid variant – Omicron.
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