The hospitals in Denmark are about to run out of the drug Sotrovimab, which effectively prevents admissions as a result of the omicron variant, writes DR.
There are only 850 treatments left at the main pharmacy in Copenhagen, which is the country’s largest and delivers medicines to the Danish hospitals.
– Right now we have relatively little. This means that we are starting to reduce consumption, so only patients with the greatest risk can get it, says Jan Gerstoft, who is a professor at the University of Copenhagen and chief physician at the Department of Infectious Diseases at Rigshospitalet, to the channel.
– It is definitely a problem, because we would have liked to have given it to as many people as possible, but we do not have the opportunity to do so now, he continues.
Effective against omicrons
Gerstoft says that the drug is sought after because it has proven particularly effective against disease as a result of the omicron variant.
Several antibody treatments, which have been useful earlier in the pandemic, do not work as well against the new variant, writes the Danish news agency Ritzau.
The drug is given early in the course, and works by injecting antibodies into the blood. Among other things, it is given to people with weakened immune systems, who do not produce sufficient antibodies during vaccination.
“Studies have shown that treatment can prevent hospitalizations by 85 percent,” says Gerstoft.
The first doses of the drug arrived in Norway last week. Steinar Madsen, director of the Norwegian Medicines Agency, has said that it is most relevant for use in patients with old age or underlying diseases, such as diabetes, COPD or heart failure.
Unvaccinated pregnant women do not receive the offer
In the Danish capital region, the shortage has forced priorities.
Unvaccinated pregnant women are among those who are now not offered the treatment, as they received before. However, the country’s four other regions inform DR that they still offer treatment to unvaccinated pregnant women.
Gerstoft expects new deliveries of the medicine in January, but neither the Danish Medicines Agency nor the supplier Amgros has been able to provide an expected delivery time to DR due to the Christmas holidays.
(NTB)
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