The Ministry of Health’s medicine regulatory arm Medsafe in New Zealand has approved a new COVID-19 medicine Ronapreve that can both prevent and treat COVID-19 though it is not a substitute for vaccination and its effectiveness against the latest variant of concern is yet to be demonstrated.

Ronapreve is a monoclonal antibody drug that mimics the body’s natural defences for fighting disease. The clinical advice is that it is a significant advance, because it reduces the severity of COVID-19 by keeping more cases out of hospital and shortens the duration of symptoms and infectious period which in turn reduces the risk of patients passing the virus on to other people, says Medsafe Group Manager Chris James.

Ronapreve is approved for the treatment of COVID-19 for people who are badly affected by COVID-19 and who are at increased risk of progressing to severe COVID-19 disease. Ronapreve is not approved for use in children.

Ronapreve, along with four other drugs including molnupiravir, have been selected for fast tracked approval to help protect against the COVID-19 pandemic, protecting people and hospital services against its worst impacts.