In a breakthrough development, doctors in India have started giving monoclonal antibody cocktails (MAC) to coronavirus patients in Delhi. The initiative began at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, and doctors are administering a combination of casirivimab and imdevimab to consenting patients who are suffering from mild to moderate Covid symptoms. A recently issued statement by authorities revealed that one dose of MAC costs Rs 59,750.
Fight against Covid continues
Doctors at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital started this cocktail treatment at a time when India is battling the second wave of coronavirus. Even though the number of fresh cases in the country has started declining over the past few days, medical experts are already on guard due to the possibility of a third-wave outbreak in the coming months.
"As per the claims of the company Roche/ Cipla, we hope MAC will be a major factor in the fight against COVID-19 to prevent the disease from progressing to further severity," said Dr. DS Rana, Chairman (BOM), at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.
The Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) revealed that the selection of patients will "entail that they have Covid positive test report, mild to moderate Covid disease, are in the age group of 12 and above and weighing at least 40 kilograms, and are at high risk of Covid-19.''
The possibility of a third wave in India
The Union Health Ministry had recently warned that a potential coronavirus third wave in India could be inevitable. Medical experts in the country believe that the third wave in the country could be much more dangerous and may affect people irrespective of age group.
The Principal Scientific Advisor to the PM Dr. KV Vijay Raghavan had also claimed that it is practically impossible to predict the exact timeline in which the next Covid outbreak will happen.
"Phase 3 is inevitable given the high levels of circulating virus. But it is not clear on what timescale this Phase 3 will occur. Hopefully, incrementally, but we should prepare for new waves. New variants will arise all over the world and in India too but variants that increase transmission will likely plateau," said Vijay Raghavan.
