S’pore to Purchase Sotrovimab, A Medication to Help Treat Patients With COVID-19, From GSK

By
Rae Woo
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COVID-19, an addiction to coffee, and your soured relationship all have something in common.

There is no known cure for it.

While there’s no guarantee you can fix certain things, not all hope is lost, for healing is always a process as positive inspirational quotes on Instagram will tell you in pretty pink.

And that hope seems to come in the form of a new medication that Singapore recently snatched up.

Singapore Purchases COVID-19 Treatment Medicine 

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Singapore said in a statement on Tuesday (29 Jun) that it would be bringing in a medicine which proves to be helpful in treating patients with mild to moderate symptoms of COVID-19.

This is in conjunction with clinical-stage immunology firm Vir Biotechnology.

GSK is also working with French pharmaceutical company Sanofi to develop a COVID-19 vaccine.

Called sotrovimab, the medicine is described as an “investigational single-dose monoclonal antibody administered through intravenous infusion.”

Yes, there are many big words, but simply put, it is a monoclonal antibody, which usually attaches itself to a specific structure.

In this case, sotrovimab will cling on to the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 like a koala to a tree, reducing the ability of the virus to enter one’s bodily cells.

It also reduces my ability to pronounce its name. I haven’t even figured out how to pronounce Comirnaty yet.

COVID-19 patients who are at risk of progressing to severe disease, yet have no need for supplementary oxygen, will use the medicine as treatment.

As of now, the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) is still reviewing it for interim authorisation under the Pandemic Special Access Route (PSAR).

Other countries, such as the US, have had access granted to it by its Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on 26 May.

The European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use have also published their positive scientific opinion on the drug.

85% Reduction in Hospitalisation or Death

Sotrovimab’s efficiency was actually so evident that its phase three trials got stopped early by an independent data-monitoring committee in March.

If only that happens when we get good grades instead of having to continue with tuition.

GSK Singapore revealed that for the interim analysis conducted among 583 randomised patients, there was “an 85% reduction in hospitalisation or death in those receiving sotrovimab compared to placebo, the primary endpoint of the trial.”

The medicine’s safety and quality data will be considered in the PSAR’s review as well, and the final efficacy trial results will be released later in the year.

Despite various worrying mutations of the virus that have been popping up all over the world, sotrovimab actually targets a conserved epitope (the part of an antigen molecule that an antibody attaches itself to) of the Sars-CoV-2 spike protein, which is more unlikely to mutate.

More good news: data has also suggested that the treatment seems to be active against all variants of concern (VOCs), including the Indian-originated Delta variant, Vir’s chief medical officer Dr Phil Pang said.

Everyone around the world just wishes for one thing now: for the pandemic to end.

Senior vice-president for speciality and primary-care therapy area at GSK, Mr Mike Crichton, said that although coronavirus variants are arising, vaccines along with treatments as such have the potential to increase the likeliness of ending the pandemic.

They are also in discussions with other governments for similar supply programs as more countries are stepping up in vaccination and therapy efforts.

May this be a stepping stone towards finally controlling COVID-19.

Feature Image: Willy Barton / Shutterstock.com

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Rae Woo
Email: [email protected]