Haryana Man Becomes First In India To Receive Covid-19 Cocktail Drug Once Administered To Trump

Mohabbat Singh, an 84-year-old man from Haryana, has become the first person in India to be given the Covid-19 Roche drug cocktail as per a report in Times of India.

Drug cocktail came into the limelight after it was administered to former US President Donald Trump when he tested positive for the virus last year.

Singh is under treatment for Covid-19 at Medanta Hospital Gurugram for the last five days. Singh was given the drug over a 30 minute intravenous supply on Tuesday (25 May).

According to an official announcement by Roche India and Cipla Limited, the first batch of the Roche drug with a mixture of two antibodies, Casirivimab and Imdevimab, arrived in India on Monday.

“This drug is different from convalescent plasma and entirely different from repurposed drugs like Remdesivir or Tocilizumab. Studies show that 80 per cent of patients who took this drug didn’t need hospitalisation, and it also reduced death rate in addition to shortening the duration of symptoms,” Dr Naresh Trehan, director, Medanta, told the reporters.

Cipla is selling the drug in hospitals at an estimated price of Rs 59,000 per dose.

“The antibodies built in a patient after this drug would last only three-four weeks even though it would have done its job to contain the virus,” Trehan added, saying that only one dose is needed.

Dr Sushila Kataria, director, internal medicine, Medanta, said, “The only condition imposed by the government is that it should be used in patients above 65 with comorbidities and immunocompromised. Even those above 55 with cardiac problems can be given this drug,”

Regular antibodies in any Covid-19 patient emerge only after 14 days of catching the infection. But in this drug, the lab-made antibodies work immediately.