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 percent. In addition, it also shortened recovery by 4.12 days, according to trial results.
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.
