Research, editing : Gan Yung Chyan, KUCINTA SETIA
Image : GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is located in the office building in London, England. (Leon Neal/Getty Images)
On Thursday (2 December 2021), the British regulatory agency approved a drug from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) for covid treatment. The drugmaker said that its drug appears to be effective against the new Omicron variant/Covi29.
The British Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said that this covi antibody, sotrovimab, is “considered to be safe and effective” for people with mild to moderate infections and for people with a higher risk of developing serious diseases.
Sotrovimab was jointly developed by GSK in the UK and Vir Biotechnology, a biotechnology company based in California. It is a monoclonal antibody that can bind to the spike protein of covi, thereby reducing the virus's ability to enter human cells. Sotrovimab is sold under the brand name Xevudy.
According to MHRA data, among high-risk adults with symptomatic covi infection, a single dose of Sotrovimab can reduce the risk of hospitalization and death by 79%.
MHRA recommends that patients should be given Sotrovimab within 5 days of the onset of symptoms because it is most effective in the early stages of infection.
Dr. June Raine, CEO of MHRA, said that this is another proven effective protection method. MHRA has conducted a strong and thorough evaluation of all available data.
Not only that, but GSK said in a statement that preclinical data shows that Sotrovimab is "active against key mutations in the new Omicron variant." He added that so far, Sotrovimab has continued activity for all "concerned" and "interested" covi variants defined by the World Health Organization (WHO).
GSK said that testing is underway to confirm that Sotrovimab has neutralizing activity for all Omicron mutation combinations, and it is expected to provide updated information before the end of 2021.
The independent pharmacist Professor Penny Ward also stated on the BBC Radio 4 "Today" program that the Sotrovimab drug may be effective for Omicron infection.
"They have conducted extensive tests on the different variants that have emerged, and many of them contain mutations similar to those we found in Omicron." Ward said, expecting it to have a very broad antiviral effect.
Vir CEO George Scangos said that special consideration was given to mutant viruses when designing Sotrovimab. Clinical data also shows that it is active against all variants, including key mutations found in Omicron.
"We fully expect this positive trend to continue, and we are redoubled efforts to confirm its activity on the complete genome sequence of Omicron." Scangos said.
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