A new treatment against Covid-19 has obtained the approval of the Haute Autorité de Santé. It retains its effectiveness against the Omicron variant and significantly limits the risk of hospitalization and death.
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In addition to vaccination and barrier gestures, there are drugs developed to limit the worsening of symptoms of Covid-19. They are generally administered to populations at risk of severe disease in the first days following the onset of symptoms. Recently, the High Authority of Health authorized early access to a new anti-Covid-19 treatment, Xevudy® from GSK, already authorized by the European Medicines Agency in mid-December 2021.
A therapeutic antibody still active against Omicron
Xevudy® is a biomedicine whose active ingredient is a monoclonal antibody, sotrovimab. In a series of experiments carried out upstream, scientists have noticed that many therapeutic antibodies lose their antiviral activity in the face of to the Omicron variantexcept sotrovimab. The latter prevents the coronavirus enter cells but also participates in the destruction of already infected cells. These two actions combined reduce the risk of hospitalization and death by 80% after administration of the treatment in people at risk of severe disease and who do not need oxygen therapy.
It can be prescribed to anyone, and to adolescents from the age of 12, weighing over 40 kg ; it must be administered intravenously within five days of symptom onset to be effective. The patients are followed during the taking of the treatment and in the hour which follows.
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