Monoclonal antibodies that could reduce COVID-19 deaths are not being used

Experts say a class of laboratory-made drugs that could prevent patients at high risk of COVID-19 from becoming seriously ill is significantly underutilized.

Monoclonal antibodies that could neutralize SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, are highly recommended for people over 65 or who have underlying medical conditions that put them at risk for disease serious. President Donald Trump received Regeneron antibody treatment shortly after being diagnosed with COVID-19.

Public health officials on Thursday called on healthcare professionals across the country to take advantage of the abundance of these monoclonal antibodies which are currently the only approved treatment that could keep Americans out of hospitals and reduce half the time in hospital, according to studies.

“This is the first time during the pandemic that I can remember that our resources have far exceeded demand,” said Dr. William Fales of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, according to NBC News.

Experts say monoclonal antibodies are not more widely used for several reasons. First, they should be administered soon after a test for COVID-19 is positive in the first week of illness. While some states, including Ohio, have an electronic recording system in place that alerts healthcare professionals if patient samples come back positive, other states do not have such a rapid response system. .

Second, the hour-long infusions of the Regeneron and Eli Lilly monoclonal antibodies should be given intravenously and appointments can last between 3 and 4 hours, according to NBC News. Since COVID-19 patients can infect other people, they should be kept in a separate room. This can seriously hamper the administration of medications at a local clinic or even a doctor’s office.

Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, cites public transportation as another barrier to antibody treatment. Any kind of shared commute is out of the question for patients with COVID-19, and some patients cannot afford to spend half a day for treatment away from family and work obligations, he said.

And then there is the cost. Since the therapy is administered intravenously, a single dose costs $ 1,250, according to published reports. Even though the federal government has agreed to distribute the drugs free of charge, the infusion alone can cost $ 1,000, which can result in large co-payments even for insured people.

According to NPR, the federal government said it has delivered more than 300,000 doses of monoclonal antibodies to medical facilities nationwide. While Chin-Hong says her facility has only used 20% of its supply, some health systems have overcome logistical hurdles related to drug administration.

At the Houston Methodist Hospital, doctors have opened special clinics that administer between 50 and 70 infusions per day to eligible high-risk patients and use up their supplies as fast as it arrives. Experts say setting up similar infusion centers may be the answer to the use of the resources at our disposal, but it may be an unreasonable demand on some health systems already strained under the strain. weight of the pandemic.

“If we had this pandemic under control, we could set up infusion centers,” said Dr Pieter Cohen, associate professor of medicine at Cambridge Health Alliance, according to NBC News. “We could set up rapid tests. But we don’t have those resources. We are completely overwhelmed with sick patients. “

Chin-Hong agrees, adding that patients eligible for monoclonal antibody treatment are generally doing well. “You want to focus on sick patients,” he says.

Another factor that prevents the widespread use of this therapy may be the lack of awareness. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said on Tuesday that “patients should ask their doctors or health care providers why they are not offered these antibody treatments.” HHS has an online map that displays some, but not all, of the locations that have received supplies of monoclonal antibodies.