The World Health Organization is now recommending the use of Regeneron - the previously-experimental treatment used by former US President Donald Trump when he contracted Covid-19.
Regeneron, or Ronapreve as it is called in New Zealand, has yet to be cleared in Aotearoa however an application was lodged with MedSafe on September 3 for it and it is currently undergoing a priority review.
The treatment, which combines two antibodies [casirivimab and imdevimab] is being recommended for two specific groups of patients with Covid-19 by a WHO panel of international experts and patients, the British Medical Journal announced.
The first are patients with non-severe Covid-19 who are at highest risk of hospitalisation and the second are those with severe or critical Covid-19 who do not have their own antibody response to Covid-19.
The US President wants to give the drug to everyone who has Covid-19 in the US for free.
The treatment had already been approved for use in the UK and Japan and had emergency approval status in the US, European Union, Canada and some other nations.
Professor Kurt Krause of Otago University said that "to be most effective these antibodies must be given early in the course of Covid-19".
It's already been approved for emergency use in more than 20 countries and it's the first new treatment for Covid-19 to be considered here.
When Trump used Regeneron last October, he said at the time the treatment was so effective he wanted "everybody to be given the same treatment as your President because I feel great".
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