SINGAPORE, Dec 11 — AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 antibody drug is expected to arrive in Singapore in the coming weeks, after the biopharmaceutical firm announced yesterday (December 10) that it had signed a new purchase agreement with the Singapore Government.
The drug Evusheld combines two long-acting antibodies — tixagevimab and cilgavimab — that aid the immune system in fending off the coronavirus.
Responding to queries from TODAY, the Health Sciences Authority said that it was in talks with AstraZeneca to facilitate its regulatory submission.
“At this juncture, no application has been filed.”
AstraZeneca said in a statement that a Phase Three trial of the drug showed an 88 per cent reduced risk of severe disease or death when patients with mild to moderate Covid-19 were treated within three days of the onset of symptoms.
“The supply is expected to arrive in Singapore by year end,” said the United Kingdom-based firm.
The drug is given as two injections into a muscle, and can be used to both treat and prevent Covid-19.
Early laboratory findings have shown that the drug was effective against variants of concern, including the predominant Delta strain of the coronavirus, said the firm.
Pre-clinical data also suggests that the new Omicron variant should not have a significant impact on Evusheld's efficacy, the company added.
The drug is being studied in a comprehensive clinical trial programme for the treatment and prevention of Covid-19 in more than 9,000 participants.
AstraZeneca this week received emergency-use authorisation for Evusheld from the United States Food and Drug Administration for the prevention of Covid-19. It has since filed applications for regulatory approval in other countries.
Vinod Narayanan, country president of AstraZeneca Singapore, said that the drug would provide another prevention option for people at high risk of contracting Covid-19, alongside vaccines. These include persons who have weakened immune systems and cannot develop the necessary degree of protective response after vaccination.
In October, pharmaceutical firm MSD — known as Merck in the United States and Canada — announced that it had entered into an agreement with Singapore to provide molnupiravir, an antiviral drug to treat Covid-19, once it is authorised or approved.
Evusheld, if approved for use, will add to the Covid-19 treatments already available in Singapore.
Gilead Sciences’ antiviral drug remdesivir and GlaxoSmithKline’s antibody drug sotrovimab are among the treatments that have been approved for Covid-19 patients here. ― TODAY
