84-yr-old Haryana man, first in India to get antibody cocktail against Covid-19 mutant

An 84-year-old man from Haryana has become the first person in Indian to be administered the Covid drug cocktail, which came into limelight after it was administered to former US President Donald Trump when he tested positive for the virus last year.

Mohabbat Singh, who was under treatment for the last five days at Gurugram’s Medanta Hospital was on Tuesday given the drug over a 30 minute intravenous supply.

The cocktail of two fast acting antibodies-Casirivimab and Imdevimab is seen as a cutting-edge treatment that will provide protection to Covid-19 with mild moderate symptoms before their condition deteriorates and they require hospitalization.

The first batch of the Roche antibody cocktail drug arrived in the country on Monday, according to an official announcement by Roche India and Cipla Limited. “If these antibodies are injected into a patient infected with the Covid-19 virus at an early stage when the virus is trying to multiply then it blocks the virus from entering the cells of the patient form where it derives nutrition to multiply. So by blocking the virus they are stopping the multiplication of the virus and finally the virus spikes. It is one of the blocking mechanisms that is working against the Covid-19 virus,” Doctor Naresh Trehan, Chairman and MD of Medanta hospital told ANI.

Dr Trehan further said that the antibodies are also effective against the new variant B.1.617.2 and thus has been verified in laboratories as well.