(Yicai Global) Dec. 9 -- China has approved the emergency use of a combination therapy of Covid-19 neutralizing antibodies for the first time. Developed by a unit of Chinese innovative medicine developer Brii Biosciences, it has been proven to help prevent mild and regular cases of the disease becoming more severe.

The therapy, which uses a combination of the non-competing amubarvimab and romlusevimab monoclonal neutralizing antibodies derived from convalescing patients, has been approved for emergency use on adult Covid-19 patients who have a high risk of progressing to a more severe form of the disease, the National Medical Products Administration said yesterday. The treatment can also be used on teenagers subject to conditional approval.

The new therapy, developed by Tengsheng Huachuang Medical Technology, works by blocking the novel coronavirus from entering cells, inhibiting virus replication and regulating the human immune system.

It can reduce the hospitalization and morbidity of patients by 80 percent, the Beijing-based parent firm said. In final stage clinical trials, the use of the drug resulted in no deaths, while nine of those treated with a placebo died.

The new drug does not come cheap though, costing CNY8,000 (USD1,261) per dose. However, this is still less than the price of the medicine in the US where it costs USD2,000 per dose.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor