Health department to study efficacy of antibody cocktail in Covid treatment
Kolkata: The state Health department is set to examine the effectiveness of antibody cocktail — a combination of two drugs — by administering it on at least 300 Covid patients in four medical colleges in the city. An expert committee has already been constituted by the department to check its viability.
The state government will prepare a guideline on the basis of the observation submitted by the expert committee in this regard. The guideline will give an outline as to how the antibody cocktail would be administered on patients after examining the efficacy of the antibody cocktail.
Four medical colleges have been identified, where the antibody cocktail would be administered on patients on a trial basis. They are Calcutta Medical College and Hospital, Beliaghata ID Hospital, RG Kar Medical College and Hospital and Sambhunath Pandit Hospital. It would be applied to at least 300 patients who are in their early stage of infection.
"It would be primarily applied on mild Covid patients (on an experimental basis) to check how far it can prove effective against Covid. It will be examined as to how the patients are benefitted after they are administered the combination of two drugs. If the outcome is positive, it will be applied to many others," a senior health official said.
A two-member expert team comprising Dr Santanu Tripathi and Dr Jyotirmoyo Pal will submit a report to the Health department on the basis of which the final decision would be taken. Earlier, it was applied on more than eight Covid infected patients by some private hospitals. They were given an antibody cocktail — a combination of two injections for the better management of Covid.
The treatment was approved in India in May. Antibody cocktail, the application of a combination of two drugs gained enough popularity as it was applied on former US President Donald Trump after he was infected with the virus.
"The antibody cocktail is a combination of two different drugs — Casirivimab and Imdevimab. Two drugs come inside the same package but in different vials. The antibody cocktail prevents the virus from entering the cells as a result there is no multiplication. It, therefore, prevents cells from being damaged," said a senior doctor from a private hospital that has been treating such patients.
