WHO Pre-Qualifies Tocilizumab To Make Cheaper Verisons For Hospitalised Covid Patients

The UN health agency said it had added three different compositions of the monoclonal antibody to its list in a move aimed to spur the production of cheaper generic versions.

New Delhi: The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Friday said that it had prequalified the arthritis treatment tocilizumab for use in patients hospitalised with severe Covid-19, in a bid to increase access to the pricey drug reported AFP.

The UN agency has already recommended the use in the United States and the European Union to treat severe Covid in hospital settings. The drug remains in short supply and is very expensive - a single dose reportedly goes for up to $600 in lower-income countries, WHO said, adding though that its prequalification should help make it more accessible.

According to the report, the monoclonal antibody, used in anti-inflammatory drugs made by Swiss pharma giant Roche, has been shown to reduce the risk of death and also hospitalisation time in certain patients suffering from severe Covid.

The UN health agency said it had added three different compositions of the monoclonal antibody to its list in a move aimed to spur the production of more cheaper generic versions.

"The listings should pave the way for more companies coming forward to seek WHO prequalification, thereby increasing the number of quality-assured products and creating competition leading to potentially lower prices," WHO said in a statement.

"The prequalification of these products will also facilitate low- and middle-income countries' authorisation of them as Covid treatments," it said.

WHO told AFP its prequalification process was primarily aimed at ensuring the quality, safety and efficacy of medical products procured to developing countries. This, it said, "means there should be no intellectual property barriers," although it warned there was "low global availability for quality-assured biosimilars of the product".

Tocilizumab has previously been authorised mostly for the treatment of arthritis in about 120 countries. But during the pandemic, it has also been shown to suppress a dangerous "cytokine storm" - the over-reaction of the immune system to the coronavirus, the AFP report stated.