EAU CLAIRE, Wisconsin (WEAU) – More than 700 people in the Chippewa Valley have received monoclonal treatments with COVID-19 antibodies from the Mayo Clinic health system.
Since the FDA approved an emergency use authorization for treatment in November 2020, the healthcare system has been using it to treat patients with high-risk viruses.
Monoclonal antibody treatments are designed to keep people out of the hospital. According to the FDA, they are proteins made in a laboratory designed to mimic the immune system’s ability to fight harmful pathogens such as viruses.
Lori Arndt, a medical assistant at the Mayo Eau Claire Clinic, said they were meant to start the immune system.
“It blocks the binding of the virus to cells and prevents the development of severe COVID symptoms,” he said.
In mid-January, Bob and Joyce Wachsmuth tested positive for COVID-19. Bob Wachsmuth, 70, has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a type of lung disease. After the positive test, a doctor at the Mayo Clinic saw his record and recommended that he receive monoclonal antibodies.
“I had more of a sense of relief that because I had these things underlying, this was available to me and would probably speed up recovery and keep me out of the hospital or shorten the stay,” Bob Wachsmuth said.
A cancer survivor, Joyce Wachsmuth, 67, also qualified for treatment. As a retired nurse, she didn’t think twice about whether she should do the experimental therapy.
“I had such intense pain in my body and joints that anything that gave me relief was much appreciated,” he said.
Hours after receiving the one-hour infusion, Joyce Wachsmuth said the pain began to subside.
“It was very fast for those monoclonal antibodies to be doing their job,” he said.
But most of all, for Bob and Joyce Wachsmuth, they feel better.
“I feel like COVID was a success like a long time ago when I put it in perspective even though it’s only been three weeks,” Joyce Wachsmuth said.
“I feel good. Like I said, it doesn’t seem like that much time,” Bob Wachsmuth said.
Arndt said the vast majority of patients who received monoclonal antibodies avoided hospitalization.
Although patients receive the infusion in the hospital, they can get home later that day.
Arndt said patients receiving monoclonal antibodies must wait 90 days before receiving a vaccine against COVID-19.
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