Laure van Ruymbeke, in London, edited by Thibaud Le Meneec 11:35 am, August 21, 2021
Authorized preventively in France, the anti-Covid Ronapreve treatment was approved by the United Kingdom on Friday.
This is a treatment based on artificial antibodies intended for people at greatest risk.
In the United Kingdom, as in France, since August 9, a health pass is required to access certain public places.
And this is not our only common ground when it comes to fighting the coronavirus epidemic.
The British are also interested in a preventive treatment against Covid-19, Ronapreve, a treatment based on artificial antibodies for those most at risk.
It was just cleared on Friday.
Administered after infection
It is not a substitute for the vaccine, specifies the British Medicines Agency, but it will be prescribed as a supplement. The Ronapreve treatment was developed by the American biotech Regeneron, in partnership with the Roche laboratory, to prevent contamination and reduce the probability of being admitted to hospital. Administered by infusion or injection, it prevents the virus from entering cells.
"The main advantage of this treatment is that it can be given after infection unlike vaccines," said Mohammed Khaled, a doctor at a hospital in the NHS, the British public health system.
"If we have patients who have a high risk of dying from Covid and they are infected, we can still treat them with this drug. It is important to expand our arsenal in the fight against Covid and to have different options that we can use at different times of disease progression. "
And in France ?
"The main drawback of this drug is its cost, but I believe saving a life is more than a few thousand pounds," continues the British doctor. The treatment costs between 1,000 and 2,000 British pounds. The government has yet to say who will benefit from Ronapreve, but experts say it should be reserved for the most vulnerable. The Minister of Health clarified that it will be available as soon as possible.
In France, immunocompromised people, at high risk of developing a severe form and in whom the vaccines do not work well, may receive preventive treatment with Ronapreve, especially if they are in contact, as announced on Friday August 6 by the High Authority for Health (HAS). They will benefit from an "early access authorization" to this treatment "as a pre-exposure or post-exposure prophylaxis to Sars-CoV-2," she said in a press release.