Columbus Regional Health is seeing an increase in demand for a COVID-19 treatment that has been prescribed to prominent public officials during the pandemic, including former President Donald Trump and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
The treatment, called monoclonal antibodies, uses laboratory-created proteins to help the immune system recognize and respond more effectively to COVID-19 infections, according to federal regulators. The drug is only recommended for certain people with mild-to-moderate cases of COVID-19 who aren’t yet in the hospital but are at a high risk for severe illness.
CRH has administered the infusion to about 20 patients over the past week, said Dr. (Raymond) Lee Kiser, medical director of hospital care physicians at CRH. About 100 patients at CRH have received the treatment over the past several months.
Currently, the infusion that CRH is using was developed by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and was granted emergency use authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in November. It’s the same drug Trump received when he was hospitalized with COVID-19 last October.
The list of those who may be at a high risk for serious illness includes anyone over 65 or those with other conditions that could predispose them to severe illness, including obesity, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, pregnancy, among other health issues.
However, that doesn’t mean everybody in this group should get the infusion, Kiser said. He urged those who may qualify to contact their doctor as soon as possible after testing positive for COVID-19 to discuss whether they would be a good candidate for the treatment.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health say that, if used, the treatment should be administered as soon as possible after diagnosis and within 10 days after the patient starts experiencing symptoms.
“There are definitely studies to show that in certain populations, it may decrease the risk of death and hospitalization,” Kiser said. “…But it’s definitely not a medicine that we recommend for everybody by any means.”
Over the past few weeks, monoclonal antibodies have risen in demand in states seeing a spike in infections, including Florida, Louisiana and Texas, where hospitalizations among the unvaccinated are overwhelming the health care system, The Associated Press reported.
White House officials reported recently that federal shipments of the drugs increased five-fold last month to nearly 110,000 doses, with the vast majority going to states with low vaccination rates, according to wire reports.
The infusions involve proteins produced by the body’s immune system, called antibodies, which help the body fight an infection, according to the Mayo Clinic. Some antibodies can neutralize a virus, while others can alert other cells to attack the virus.
Monoclonal antibodies are harvested in labs by exposing white blood cells to a foreign substance to induce the cells to produce antibodies that target that specific substance. The technology is not new and has been used to help treat several types of cancer in the past, according to the Mayo Clinic.
In the case of the coronavirus, the white blood cells were exposed to the spike protein on the surface of the virus that causes COVID-19, Kiser said.
The treatment, which is delivered intravenously, only requires one dose and takes about an hour to administer, though patients are observed afterwards to make sure there aren’t any adverse reactions, Kiser said.
CRH is currently administering the treatment on an outpatient basis at an infusion clinic in the hospital.
However, antibody infusions are not a substitute for vaccination, according to the FDA.
“It’s not a magic bullet by any means,” Kiser said. “It’s not meant for everybody, but there are high-risk people who should talk to their doctor about whether or not they would be candidates for this medicine.”
