File Photo:VCG

Two medications were approved for market use by China's top medicine regulator on Wednesday, marking an important step in the country's efforts in the race against time to fight the COVID-19 epidemic. 

According to an announcement by the National Medical Products Administration, it has approved two medications of a neutralizing antibody combination therapy against novel coronavirus manufactured by a company based in Beijing. This is the first novel coronavirus neutralizing antibody combination therapy drug with independent intellectual property rights approved in China. 

According to the relevant provisions, the administration conducted an emergency review and approval, according to the special drug approval procedure of the combination of the two medications for the treatment of adults and adolescents between 12 and 17 years old, weighting over 40 kilograms, with mild and ordinary type and high risk factors for progression to severe, including hospitalization or death. 

Chinese researchers are rolling out a number of medications specific for COVID-19 treatment as the world races into the third phase of the fight against the virus characterized by a combination of accessible vaccines and drugs. 

The combination therapy is jointly developed by Tsinghua University, the Third People's Hospital of Shenzhen and Brii Biosciences, a company that has headquarters in China and the US. It is also likely to be the first medication to receive emergency use authorization in developed countries like the US.

Brii Biosciences announced in late August that its SARS-CoV-2 therapy BRII-196/BRII-198 demonstrated a statistically significant reduction of 78 percent in hospitalizations and deaths in phase III clinical trials conducted in the US, Brazil, South Africa, Mexico, Argentina and the Philippines.