Sushil Manav
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 5
Monoclonal antibody cocktail, a combination of two neutralising antibody drugs casirivimab and imdevimab, which has the potential of reducing hospitalisation in Covid-19 and also shortening the duration of symptoms, has been administered to only one person, a senior Punjab politician, at a private hospital in Gurugram.
Tocilizumab, an anti-IL-6 receptor monoclonal antibodies drug, has been administered to 42 patients, including Haryana Home and Health Minister Anil Vij, so far at the PGIMS, Rohtak.
The monoclonal antibody cocktail treatment is now available in the US.
“The US government has so far not allowed its export to other countries. When a senior politician from Punjab was admitted to a private hospital in Gurugram, his family was intimated about all treatment options, including that of antibody cocktail, if they could manage its import. They were successful in their attempt and the antibody cocktail was given to the politician. Despite his health issues the politician recovered from the infection within a few days without any complications,” said a senior doctor of the state.
“To my knowledge, this Punjab politician is the only person in the country to have received a dose of monoclonal antibody cocktail so far.”
Meanwhile, as far as tocilizumab, an immunosuppressive medicine that belongs to a class of monoclonal antibodies, was administered under trial to 183 patients in several top hospitals in the country, including 42 in the PGIMS, Rohtak, by a team of doctors who published their findings in reputed medical journal Lancet in its March 4, 2021 issue.
Among those who received tocilizumab is Home and Health Minister Anil Vij, according to Dr Dhruv Choudhary, nodal officer for Covid in Haryana, who was part of the trials. Among others who were part of the trials was Dr Sushila Kataria from Medanta Medicity, Gurugram.
“No significant difference was observed between the group that was given tocilizumab and the other which was put on standard care. Thus, our study did not support the routine use of tocilizumab in adults with Covid. However, there might be a role for it in patientswith severe Covid that should be defined further,” said Dr Chaudhary.
US ex-PREz took this treatment
As per a doctor, one-time injection of the antibody cocktail prevented 100% of Covid illness, 100% of high SARS-CoV-2 viral loads, and cut length of asymptomatic infection to one week. The treatment was given to Donald Trump, former President of the US, after he got infected in October 2020.
Antibody cocktail cured Punjab leader: Gurugram hospital
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