Monoclonal Antibody Treatment Combo Cuts Hospitalisation Among High-Risk Covid Patients: Study

COVID-19 Study: Monoclonal antibodies are laboratory-produced molecules engineered to serve as substitute antibodies that can restore, enhance or mimic the immune system's attack on pathogens.

A combination of two monoclonal antibody treatments keeps high-risk COVID-19 patients out of the hospital when infected with mild to moderate disease, according to an observational study published in The Lancet's EClinicalMedicine journal. Monoclonal antibodies are laboratory-produced molecules engineered to serve as substitute antibodies that can restore, enhance or mimic the immune system's attack on pathogens. The combination of the monoclonal antibody treatments -- casirivimab and imdevimab -- has been given emergency use authorisation (EUA) by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The research enrolled nearly 1,400 patients at Mayo Clinic in the US, of whom 696 received the drug combo between December 2020 and early April while an equal matched cohort did not receive it. The disease status of the patients was evaluated at 14, 21 and 28 days after treatment. At each point, the numbers for hospitalisation were significantly lower in the treated group.