An 84-year-old Covid positive man has become India's first to be treated with an Antibodies Cocktail. The patient, who was given the drug at Gurugram's Medanta hospital, is back home, the hospital said. The monoclonal antibody therapy is said to reduce the chance of hospitalisation by 70% in patients with mild to moderate symptoms.
Mohabbat Singh was administered a cocktail of Casirivimab and Imdevimab as part of the "single dose infusion-based treatment" on Tuesday and then kept under observation.
"After being kept under observation, he was sent home on Wednesday," the hospital said.
The monoclonal antibodies cocktail has been used extensively in the US and Europe, Medanta chairman Dr Naresh Trehan told news agency ANI.
"When Casirivimab and Imdevimab are injected into infected patient in early stage it blocks virus from entering cells of patient. It is working against Covid-19 and is also effective against B.1.617 variant. This is a new weapon," Dr Trehan added.
Cipla and Roche India have launched the antibody cocktail in India for treating mild to moderate Covid-19 cases. The price of each dose is a little over ₹ 59,000.