South Korea approves Celltrion's COVID treatment for patients with severe symptoms

South Korea, on Friday, gave a green signal to drugmaker Celltrion Inc’s antibody COVID treatment for infected adults in high-risk groups or those with severe symptoms. The treatment-Regdanvimab (CT-P59)- is a monoclonal antibody treatment that mitigates the infection and also expedites recovery. While Brazil has already approved it for the patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19, Celltrion has said that it plans to gain emergency approval from other countries as well. The decision by South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety was based on clinical trials of the drug. In a statement, the ministry said that Regdanvimab reduced the rate of high-risk patients developing severe symptoms by 72 per cent. In addition, it also shortened recovery by 4.12 days, according to trial results. 

“Celltrion’s global Phase III data showed Regdanvimab (CT-P59) significantly reduced the risk of COVID-19 related hospitalisation or death by 72% for patients at high- risk of progressing to severe COVID-19 and 70% for all patients. In addition, patients who were treated with Regdanvimab (CT-P59) reported a significantly shortened time to clinical recovery by at least 4.7 days for patients at high- the risk of progressing to severe COVID-19 and by 4.9 days compared to placebo for all patients,” the drugmaker said in a release.

Since its first outbreak, South Korea has reported a total of 284,022 positive cases, out of which 2,394 have lost their lives. At present, a total of 25,599 cases are active in the pacific state. On Friday, the South Korean finance ministry, in its monthly economic report, i.e. Green Book, said that the economy is still uncertain about the recovery of domestic demand, as the latest resurgence in COVID-19 cases is negatively impacting the person-to-person service sector.

Fourth wave is expected to dampen economy

The pandemic's fourth wave is anticipated to reduce rising private expenditure, perhaps stalling the recovery. The greater Seoul region, which is home to half of the country's 52 million inhabitants, has been subjected to the most strict social distancing measures for the last two months, including commercial limitations and a prohibition on private meetings of three or more individuals after 6 pm. 

Image: AP