Advertisement

Covid-19: What treatments are in view in Switzerland?

The Local
The Local - [email protected]
Covid-19: What treatments are in view in Switzerland?
Anti-Covid treatment may soon be available in Switzerland, health officials said. Photo by AFP

While no drugs are yet available to specifically treat, cure, or prevent coronavirus, Swiss health authorities have pre-ordered some medications for 2021.

Advertisement

Let’s start with the vaccine.

In August, Switzerland secured early access to Covid-19 vaccine which is now being developed by the American pharmaceutical company Moderna — the only known strategy so far to build the immunity to the disease.

Swiss authorities pre-ordered 4.5 million doses. But Since two doses of the vaccine will be needed, this means that 2.25 million people, about a fourth of the country’s population, can be vaccinated against Covid-19.

This will not provide the so-called ‘herd immunity’ when at least 50 percent of the population becomes resistant to a particular virus.

However, at least the elderly and those at risk could be vaccinated with the available doses. 

There’s also a chance that people working in certain professions such as health care, could be required to be vaccinated, Health Minister Alain Berset said.

Advertisement


READ MORE: A Covid-19 vaccine could be made mandatory in Switzerland 

The vaccine is not expected to be ready for use before next year at the earliest.

The sense of urgency to develop the vaccine has raised fears that companies and regulators might rush to produce vaccines that have not been properly tested for safety and efficacy.

But pharmaceutical company executives insist they would bring Covid-19 vaccines to market only after thorough testing.

Drug therapy

One an anti-viral medication, Remdesivir, has been used experimentally to treat infected patients, as no other alternatives exist at the moment.

But in August, the federal government has signed a ‘reservation agreement’ for the delivery of 200,000 doses of a possible new coronavirus medication.

If the yet-unnamed drug successfully passes clinical trials and is approved for the market, Switzerland will receive priority access, the Federal Office of Public Health said. 

The government also secured the right to be supplied with up to 3 million further doses. 

Manufactured by a Swiss company, Molecular Partners, a spin-off of the University of Zurich, the new drug acts as an ‘immunotherapeutic agent’. 

This means the treatment is comparable to mixtures of antibody therapies that are used to neutralise the virus.

“If the product is approved in Switzerland, it will primarily be used to treat people infected with the coronavirus”, health authorities noted.

“The drug also could, in certain cases, be administered on a preventive basis — for example for exposed hospital staff or other risk groups”.

 

 

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also