Demand for COVID antibody drugs soars in the hardest hit states

People infected with COVID-19 were captured in a photo this week lying on the ground in pain while waiting for antibody infusions at a treatment site installed in the Jacksonville, Florida library.

The image has become a vivid illustration of the huge demand for COVID-19 drugs, once neglected, in the states most affected by an increase in summer infections caused by the highly contagious delta variant.

“They were moaning and obviously in a lot of pain. They were miserable, ”said Louie Lopez, who shot the photograph while waiting more than two hours to receive treatment.

Antibody treatments remain a handful of therapies that can reduce the worst effects of COVID-19, and are the only option available for people with mild to moderate cases who are not yet in the hospital.

Demand has risen in states that have experienced an increase in infections, including Florida, Louisiana and Texas, where hospitalizations among the unvaccinated are overwhelming the health care system.

White House officials recently reported that federal drug shipments multiplied by five last month to nearly 110,000 doses, with the vast majority destined for states with low vaccination rates.

“They are safe, they are free, they keep people out of the hospital and they help keep them alive,” said Dr. Marcella Núñez-Smith, senior advisor to the White House COVID-19 response team.

The main drug used is the double-antibody Regeneron cocktail, which has been purchased in large quantities by the United States government. It is the same drug that former President Donald Trump received when he was hospitalized with COVID-19 last October.

Medications are laboratory-made versions of anti-blocker antibodies that help fight infections. Treatments help the patient by providing concentrated doses of one or two antibodies.

Medications are only recommended for people at higher risk of progressing to severe COVID-19, but regulators have slowly expanded who can qualify. Now the list of conditions includes older age, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, pregnancy and more than half a dozen problems.

With the expansion of eligibility and the number of cases skyrocketing across the country, more people are receiving treatments.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who tested positive for the virus this week and is receiving treatment himself, said five state COVID-19 antibody infusion centers opened last week and four more would open Monday. . At least 140 Texas providers offer antibody treatment, his office said.

In Florida, where more than 20,000 people a day test positive for the virus, growing demand created a scene in downtown Jacksonville that looked like a crowded emergency.

At one point, Lopez said staff removed paper gowns from the hospital and covered a woman on the floor. It took the staff more than half an hour to get enough wheelchairs so people could sit there.

“They dumped them in wheelchairs,” he said. “They were so sick.”

After posting the photo Wednesday, Florida health officials said they had increased the number of wheelchairs at the facility. They also said it is open seven days a week and has plenty of cribs as well as ambulances waiting to transport the sickest patients to the hospital.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Friday during a news conference that the woman in the photo is fine and feeling very well after treatment.

“None of our sites have capacity issues,” said Weesam Khoury, a spokesman for the Florida Department of Health. “We have the resources and if we need more, we will get them quickly.”

But he warned, “This is a place where people will be very sick.”

That’s why state health officials are urging patients to test positive for COVID to receive antibody treatment immediately instead of waiting until they are extremely ill, which many patients are doing.

Florida, over the past week, has set up about a dozen monoclonal antibody clinics that typically care for 300 patients a day, with an online dating portal, and plans to get up more as DeSantis has traveled by the state to promote them.

Obtaining drugs involves a number of steps.

A positive test for COVID-19 is required, which should be reviewed by a physician or health care professional. They then decide whether to recommend antibody treatment for the patient, which usually means scheduling an appointment at a local administration site.

To be effective, medications are supposed to be given within 10 days of the initial symptoms. This is the period in which hospitalization and mortality rates have been shown to reduce approximately 70%.

Medical experts agreed that medications should not be considered the first line of defense against the virus or a substitute for wearing a mask and getting vaccinated.

“I see monoclonal antibodies as a short-term bridge to getting to the point where there are enough vaccinated people,” said Dr. James Cutrell of Southwestern Medical Center at the University of Texas at Dallas. “We definitely need to keep vaccinating as many people as possible.”

Joyce Wachsmuth, of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and her husband were infected with COVID-19 in January. A breast cancer survivor, I had never felt so much pain.

“In fact, I thought to myself if 10 days passed for that COVID people, I don’t know if I want to live,” he said.

When doctors at the local Mayo clinic told the 67-year-old woman that she and her 70-year-old husband were the top candidates for the experimental drug treatment, she jumped at the chance.

She said she felt relieved just two hours after the one-hour drip treatment.

“He did wonders. He kept us out of the hospital and the fans, ”said Wachsmuth, who has since been vaccinated.

The federal government has been distributing monoclonal antibody drugs to states since last winter, but the treatments were underused due to doctors’ lack of awareness, lack of public interest, and logistics of establishing areas to give them to patients. by infusion IV.

In addition, persistent delays in testing meant that many people did not even get their results for seven days or more and clinics focused on upcoming vaccines or managing the winter increase in cases.

Since then, many cities have established alternative sites for administering drugs and offering vaccines. Treatments are free for most patients, in large part because the federal government has been actively involved in insuring and distributing them.

“There was less urgency at the time: the important thing was to vaccinate people to crush the curve,” said Dr. Arturo Casadevall of Johns Hopkins University. “But the delta variant has changed the equation.”

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Associated Press writer Terry Tang in Phoenix contributed to this story.