The UAE was the first country in the world to get access to this wonder drug…

The UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention, together with the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi and Dubai Health Authority have released some impressive results for the effectiveness of Sotrovimab in combatting Covid-19.

Sotrovimab is an antiviral drug created by GlaxoSmithKline and was approved for use by the UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) back in June 2021. Between June 30 and July 13 it has been used to treat 6,175 patients with Covid-19 in Abu Dhabi. Over half of those were over 50 and already diagnosed with complicating factors (such as obesity, cancer, diabetes or heart disease), placing them in the elevated risk category.

And the extremely encouraging results are in. Sotrovimab was found to be 99 per cent effective in preventing people from being admitted to ICU as a result of their Covid-19 infection. The drug was shown to be 100 per cent successful in preventing Covid-related death, and 97 per cent of those who received it made a full recovery in 14 days.

These remarkable stats were made possible through a pioneering treatment called monoclonal antibody therapy, which is administered via an IV drip.

For an insight into how this remarkable medication impacts the lives of real people, suffering from Coronavirus — Abu Dhabi Media Office shared the below video across their social channels. It features a series of first-hand accounts from those that have been sick with the virus and received Sotrovimab. It makes for some compelling anecdotal, human-edged evidence.

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What are monoclonal antibodies?

You’re probably already familiar with the concept of antibodies, they are our body’s microscopic imperial guard. Little Y-shaped proteins spat out by our immune system’s white blood cells in response to invading foreign proteins, such as bacteria or viruses. The antibodies latch onto receptors of these invading forces, stop them from working properly, and hopefully wipe them all out.

Monoclonal antibodies are a way of being a bit more targeted, outsourcing the early stages of the fight to a biotech laboratory. A live culture of white blood cells is presented with a foreign protein (in this case, the Covid-19 virus). The process is repeated many times, and in the experiments where the right antibodies are produced to combat the virus — those white blood cells are removed and cloned. Once you’ve done that, you have yourself a little antibody factory, where the proteins can be harvested and shipped off for use as transferable treatments.

Images: Getty