The world’s newest anti-viral medication for Covid-19, Sotrovimab, is now available for early treatment for selected patients with Covid-19 in the UAE.
Studies have shown the medicine prevents extreme illness and death in 85 per cent of early treatment cases and can work on all known variations to date.
The medication arrived in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, making the UAE the first country in the world to receive the drug.
Sotrovimab is an antibody treatment that is delivered intravenously. It is a therapy, not a vaccine.
This medicine is at the forefront of pharmaceutical advancement and is a powerful tool in our fight to end this pandemic
It can be used to treat adults and children above the age of 12 who meet certain criteria and are at risk of severe cases of Covid-19, under protocols developed by the National Scientific Committee.
After receiving positive scientific opinion from the European Medicines Agency, GlaxoSmithKline applied to have Sotrovimab approved for emergency use by the US Food and Drug Administration and the UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention.
It gained approval from both.
Abu Dhabi’s Department of Health and healthcare procurement company Rafed agreed with GlaxoSmithKline to ensure deliveries as early as June and July.
That means patients in the UAE will be among the first in the world to have access to the new therapy.
“We have been working very closely with the Department of Health and Rafed since the interim results of the clinical trials with Sotrovimab were available,” said Gizem Akalin, managing director of GlaxoSmithKline Gulf.
“The DoH and Rafed have been agile and passionate about accelerating patient access to promising new treatments to confront Covid-19.
“Our partnership with DoH and Rafed is holistic, securing early access to Sotrovimab so that the population in Abu Dhabi and UAE will be among the first in the world to get this new treatment.
“There is a great level of scientific and medical collaboration to ensure that medical teams are ready and equipped.
"We see this close co-operation as another sign of Abu Dhabi’s rapid development as a hub for first-class treatment, medicines research, logistics and manufacturing.”
The ministry's National Scientific Committee and Abu Dhabi’s Department of Health have worked on the treatment protocols to guide doctors in defining at-risk patients.
It ensures such patients have access to Sotrovimab according to their risk profile and eligibility criteria.
“This medicine is at the forefront of pharmaceutical advancement and is a powerful tool in our fight to end this pandemic," said Dr Jamal Al Kaabi, undersecretary for the health department.
"We look forward to implementing the eligibility criteria for emergency use of Sotrovimab as part of Abu Dhabi’s commitment to lead an all-encompassing Covid-19 response in prevention, treatment and care."
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The specs
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 620hp from 5,750-7,500rpm
Torque: 760Nm from 3,000-5,750rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch auto
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh1.05 million ($286,000)
More from Armen Sarkissian
Sheikh Zayed's poem
When it is unveiled at Abu Dhabi Art, the Standing Tall exhibition will appear as an interplay of poetry and art. The 100 scarves are 100 fragments surrounding five, figurative, female sculptures, and both sculptures and scarves are hand-embroidered by a group of refugee women artisans, who used the Palestinian cross-stitch embroidery art of tatreez. Fragments of Sheikh Zayed’s poem Your Love is Ruling My Heart, written in Arabic as a love poem to his nation, are embroidered onto both the sculptures and the scarves. Here is the English translation.
Your love is ruling over my heart
Your love is ruling over my heart, even a mountain can’t bear all of it
Woe for my heart of such a love, if it befell it and made it its home
You came on me like a gleaming sun, you are the cure for my soul of its sickness
Be lenient on me, oh tender one, and have mercy on who because of you is in ruins
You are like the Ajeed Al-reem [leader of the gazelle herd] for my country, the source of all of its knowledge
You waddle even when you stand still, with feet white like the blooming of the dates of the palm
Oh, who wishes to deprive me of sleep, the night has ended and I still have not seen you
You are the cure for my sickness and my support, you dried my throat up let me go and damp it
Help me, oh children of mine, for in his love my life will pass me by.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
Healthcare spending to double to $2.2 trillion rupees
Launched a 641billion-rupee federal health scheme
Allotted 200 billion rupees for the recapitalisation of state-run banks
Around 1.75 trillion rupees allotted for privatisation and stake sales in state-owned assets
RESULT
Bayern Munich 5 Eintrracht Frankfurt 2
Bayern: Goretzka (17'), Müller (41'), Lewandowski (46'), Davies (61'), Hinteregger (74' og)
Frankfurt: Hinteregger (52', 55')
RESULTS
6.30pm: Maiden (TB) Dh 82,500 (Dirt) 1.600m
Winner: Miller’s House, Richard Mullen (jockey), Satish Seemar (trainer).
7.05pm: Maiden (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Kanood, Adrie de Vries, Fawzi Nass.
7.50pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Gervais, Sandro Paiva, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.
8.15pm: The Garhoud Sprint Listed (TB) Dh 132,500 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Important Mission, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer.
8.50pm: The Entisar Listed (TB) Dh 132,500 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Firnas, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer.
9.25pm: Conditions (TB) Dh 120,000 (D) 1,400m
Winner: Zhou Storm, Connor Beasley, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.
