MOHAP: Sotrovimab prevented 100% of Covid-19 deaths in UAE treatment cohort

The UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP) reported that Sotrovimab, the monoclonal antibody from GSK and Vir Biotechnology, prevented 100% of deaths among Covid-19 patients treated with the drug in the UAE.

The announcement makes the UAE one of the first countries to publish national-level real-world efficacy data on Sotrovimab, which received emergency use authorisation from the US Food and Drug Administration in May 2021. The UAE was among the earliest adopters globally and deployed Sotrovimab across its federal hospital network while many health systems were still evaluating procurement.

What the data shows

Sotrovimab is a single-dose intravenous monoclonal antibody designed to treat mild-to-moderate Covid-19 in adults and adolescents aged 12 and older who are at high risk of progressing to severe disease. The drug targets the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 and blocks the virus from entering human cells.

GSK's COMET-ICE phase III trial, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed the drug reduced the risk of hospitalisation or death by 79% compared to placebo among high-risk patients. The UAE's reported figure of zero deaths among its treated population suggests real-world outcomes exceeded trial benchmarks, though MOHAP has not yet published the full dataset, including cohort size and patient demographics.

MOHAP administered the therapy primarily through its affiliated hospitals across the Northern Emirates. The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) and the Department of Health Abu Dhabi (DOH) ran parallel treatment programmes in their respective jurisdictions. The country's centralised procurement system allowed rapid deployment once regulatory clearance was secured.

Why this matters for UAE healthcare operators

For hospital chief medical officers and infectious disease specialists, the data validates the UAE's aggressive early-treatment protocol. Rather than reserving monoclonal antibodies for the sickest patients, MOHAP pushed treatment upstream to high-risk individuals before hospitalisation became necessary.

The financial case is straightforward:

• A single Sotrovimab infusion costs approximately $2,100 per dose at international reference pricing.
• An average Covid-19 ICU stay in the UAE ran between AED 150,000 and AED 300,000 during peak waves, according to insurance industry data.

Early intervention with monoclonal antibodies reduced ICU admissions and shortened hospital stays, which cut per-patient costs by orders of magnitude. For health system CFOs still reconciling pandemic-era spending, MOHAP's data provides a cost-effectiveness argument that extends beyond Sotrovimab to the broader class of monoclonal antibody therapeutics now in development for respiratory syncytial virus, influenza, and other infectious diseases.

Where Sotrovimab stands now

Sotrovimab's clinical window has narrowed since its initial deployment. The World Health Organization in early 2023 advised against using the drug for later Omicron subvariants due to reduced neutralising activity, and GSK withdrew its US emergency use authorisation. The UAE continued to administer remaining stocks under MOHAP's own clinical guidance.

MOHAP's decision to publish efficacy data now, years after peak usage, serves two likely purposes: it documents the UAE's pandemic response record and it strengthens the case for future therapeutic procurement. MOHAP has been expanding its national pharmaceutical stockpiling programme since 2022, and real-world efficacy data supports the case for pre-purchasing next-generation antivirals and antibody therapies.

Healthcare operators in the UAE should watch for the full study publication, which would include patient stratification by age, comorbidity, and variant exposure. That granular data would be more useful for clinical protocol design than the headline figure alone.