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A combination of two monoclonal antibody treatments keeps high-risk COVID-19 patients out of hospital when infected with mild to moderate illness, according to an observational study published in The Lancet’s journal EClinicalMedicine.
Monoclonal antibodies are molecules produced in the laboratory and designed to serve as surrogate antibodies capable of restoring, enhancing or mimicking the attack of the immune system against pathogens.
The combination of monoclonal antibody treatments – casirivimab and imdevimab – has received emergency use authorization (EUA) from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The research recruited nearly 1,400 patients at the Mayo Clinic in the United States, of whom 696 received the drug combo between December 2020 and early April, while an equal cohort did not. The disease status of the patients was assessed at 14, 21 and 28 days after treatment.
At each point, the number of hospitalizations was significantly lower in the treated group.
By day 14, 1.3% of the treated group were in the hospital, compared with 3.3% of those who had not been treated, the researchers said.
By day 21, only 1.3% of those treated were hospitalized, compared to 4.2% of those who had not been treated, they said.
The study found that after 28 days, 1.6 percent of those treated were hospitalized compared to 4.8 percent of those who had not been treated.
This resulted in a 60-70% relative reduction in hospitalizations among treated patients, according to the researchers. Among those who were subsequently hospitalized, ICU admission and death rates were low, they found.
“Once again, this real-world study suggests that when patients at high risk due to a range of comorbidities contract a mild or moderate case of COVID-19, this combination of monoclonal injections gives them a chance to non-hospitalized recovery. In other words, they recover safely at home, ”said Raymond Razonable, infectious disease specialist at the Mayo Clinic and lead author of the study.
A previous study by researchers at the Mayo Clinic suggested that the use of bamlanivimab reduced hospitalizations in high-risk patients by 40 to 60%.
This study involved 2,335 patients treated at the Mayo Clinic between November 2020 and February.
Comparing their results with 2,335 untreated patients, the ICU admission and mortality rates were also significantly lower with monoclonal antibody treatment.
The researchers noted that in April the FDA revoked the EUA for bamlanivimab alone and now approved the use of combined monoclonal antibodies.
“Our overall conclusion at this point is that monoclonal antibodies are an important treatment option to reduce the impact of COVID-19 in high-risk patients,” Razonable added.
(This story was not edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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