Monoclonal antibodies could ease record Covid hospitalizations

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Nurse Janet Gilleran treats a coronavirus patient, Mike Mokler, with bamlanivimab, a monoclonal antibody, at Tufts Medical Center in Boston on Dec. 31. Craig F. Walker / Boston Globe via Getty Images

 

(Erika Edwards/ NBC Health News) — A drug that could protect high-risk Covid-19 patients from developing severe illness is sitting on shelves unused as a record number of people are hospitalized in the U.S.

On Thursday, public health officials at the federal and state levels pleaded with the country to take advantage of its vast supply of monoclonal antibody treatments, the only available therapy that can potentially keep patients out of the hospital.

“This is the first time during the pandemic that I can recall when our resources far exceed demand,” Dr. William Fales, medical director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, said Thursday during a media briefing organized by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Fales estimated that just 10 percent of Covid-19 patients in the state who are eligible for the therapy had received it. (…)

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