Sotrovimab recipients share stories of Covid-19 recovery after taking anti-viral drug

Medicine found to be 100 per cent effective in preventing death

Saeed Al Ameri was quarantining at home with Covid-19 when his symptoms started to get worse, with a high fever, headaches and body pain.

The 36-year-old Emirati was admitted to the intensive care unit at Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, where he received sotrovimab.

His condition improved quickly and within four days he had been discharged.

His wife and her mother, however, who were also suffering from the virus, took a turn for the worse.

It has proven successful, with a number of those who used this treatment after contracting Covid-19 showing positive response in a short timeframe

Dr Anwar Salam,
Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (Seha)

They were also admitted to the ICU where the drug was administered.

And just like Mr Al Ameri, they recovered quickly and were discharged within four days.

"I am so grateful to the leaders of the UAE for their remarkable response to the pandemic,” Mr Al Ameri said.

“May the UAE be blessed with health, wellness, security, and safety.

“The unprecedented healthcare me and my family received from the SKMC team was life-saving, I am forever thankful to the entire team."

Other patients said they improved almost immediately after receiving the drug, which is administered intravenously over the period of an hour.

“I’m thankful for the effective treatment provided by the UAE to Covid-19 patients, I recovered almost immediately after receiving sotrovimab and returned back to normal life,” said May Siddiq Mansour, a recent Covid-19 patient.

Allawi Saleh Ali Al Mansouri, who also received the drug at SKMC in the capital, said the drug “contributed significantly” to his recovery from the virus.

“Shortly after receiving the medication, my condition drastically improved, and I was discharged completely healthy.

“I thank the medical team for their efforts and outstanding health care."

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  The anti-viral medication Sotrovimab is shown in pictures released by the UAE government in 2021. Pictures supplied

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  The medication was credited with keeping UAE residents out of hospital and saving lives. .

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  Sotrovimab is an antibody treatment that takes an hour to administer and is delivered intravenously.

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  The medication 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.

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  GlaxoSmithKline gained approval for use of the drug from the US Food and Drug Administration and the UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention.

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  Abu Dhabi’s Department of Health and healthcare procurement company Rafed agreed with GlaxoSmithKline to ensure delivery of the drug.

Sotrovimab is being hailed as game-changer in the treatment of the coronavirus.

The drug proved 100 per cent successful in preventing deaths and 99 per cent effective in stopping admissions to intensive care in more than 6,000 patients, over a two-week period in early July in the UAE, according to the Ministry of Health and Prevention.

Almost 97 per cent of recipients fully recovered within 14 days, in line with previous findings.

Dr Anwar Salam, chief medical officer at Seha, the Abu Dhabi health services company, said thanks to the Department of Health Abu Dhabi, public hospitals were quick to adopt the emergency use of sotrovimab.

“It has proven successful, with a number of those who used this treatment after contracting Covid-19 showing positive response in a short timeframe,” he said.

The UAE was the first country in the world to receive sotrovimab.

The shipment, which arrived in mid-June, came after an agreement between the Department of Health Abu Dhabi, Rafed – a group purchasing organisation – GSK and Etihad Cargo.

What is sotrovimab?

The drug consists of a laboratory-made antibody that mimics those produced by the immune system.

It works like natural antibodies do, by blocking Sars-CoV-2 from entering healthy cells and helping to clear infected ones, preventing the disease from progressing.

It is specifically for the treatment of mild to moderate conditions and is given to adults and children over the age of 12 who are at risk of developing severe symptoms.

It is the first treatment of its kind to receive approval for use in the US.

Experts believe it will be effective against future variants of the virus because the drug attaches itself to an area of the virus where variations do no occur.