An antiviral drug was approved to treat Covid-19 patients yesterday, while human trials will begin for another treatment next week.

Antiviral drug remdesivir can now be used to treat seriously ill Covid-19 patients in Singapore outside of clinical trials, after the Health Sciences Authority granted conditional approval to drugmaker Gilead Sciences yesterday.

The conditional approval requires Gilead to collect the relevant safety data and to monitor the use of the drug. The approval was obtained in less than three weeks.

Remdesivir was previously available in the country only through clinical trials.

Meanwhile, local biotechnology company Tychan said it has received approval to start dosing healthy volunteers next week for phase one trials to evaluate a monoclonal antibody it has developed against Covid-19.

The drug will be evaluated for safety and how the human body will react to it. The trial will be conducted by the SingHealth Investigational Medicine Unit and take about six weeks, and involve 23 people.

If proven to be safe and effective, the drug can potentially be used in different settings, from healthcare workers caring for Covid-19 patients, to travellers going to places with high numbers of infections.