BARICITINIB AND SOTROVIMAB          

Disclaimer: Copyright infringement not intended.

Context

• The World Health Organization (WH0) has recommended two drugs, baricitinib and sotrovimab, for treatment of Covid-19.

The drugs

Baricitinib

• Baricitinib is used to treat rheumatoid arthritis.
• It has been “strongly recommended” for patients with severe or critical Covid-19 in combination with corticosteroids.
• It is part of a class of drugs called Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors that suppress the overstimulation of the immune system.
• It is an oral drug, and provides an alternative to other arthritis drugs called Interleukin-6 receptor blockers, recommended by WHO in 2021.

Sotrovimab

• Sotrovimab is an investigational monoclonal antibody for use in treating conditions caused by coronavirus.
• The WHO has conditionally recommended its use for treating mild or moderate Covid-19 in patients who are at high risk of hospitalisation.
• These include patients who are older, are immunocompromised, and have underlying conditions like diabetes, hypertension and obesity, and are unvaccinated.

Monoclonal antibodies

About

• To fight a viral infection, our bodies create proteins known as antibodies. Monoclonal antibodies are artificial antibodies that mimic the activity of our immune systems. In a nutshell, Monoclonal antibodies are man-made proteins that act like human antibodies in the immune system.

Production

• They are produced through a process that involves extracting specific antibodies from human blood and then cloning them.

Purpose

• These monoclonal antibodies are designed to target a virus or a specific part of one — for instance, REGEN-COV2 is a cocktail of two monoclonal antibodies developed to target the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.

Binding

• The monoclonal antibodies bind to specific parts of the spike protein, blocking its ability to infect healthy cells.

Use

• Besides Covid-19, monoclonal antibodies have been used in the treatment of cancers as well as Ebola and HIV.

Read more here: https://www.iasgyan.in/blogs/monoclonal-antibody-cocktail

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/who-covid-drugs-baricitinib-sotrovimab-7723993/