Exclusive: Dialysis clinics provide new path for delivery of stockpiled COVID-19 antibody drugs in U.S.
FILE PHOTO: Healthcare workers treat patients infected with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, Texas, U.S., December 28, 2020. REUTERS/Callaghan O Hare/File Photo reuters tickers
This content was published on December 30, 2020 - 15:38
December 30, 2020 - 15:38
By Deena Beasley
(Reuters) - Dialysis centers in the United States are rolling out COVID-19 antibody treatments this week, a new path for delivery of Eli Lilly and Regeneron drugs approved for emergency use but facing skepticism and logistical problems in some hospitals.
Supplies of the drugs are piling up as hospitals grapple with overflowing wards and mass vaccinations. Kidney dialysis patients are among those most at risk from COVID-19, which is especially deadly among people with chronic illnesses.
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Dialysis centers in the United States are rolling out COVID-19 antibody treatments this week, a new path for delivery of Eli Lilly and Regeneron drugs approved for emergency use but facing skepticism and logistical problems in some hospitals.
Supplies of the drugs are piling up as hospitals grapple with overflowing wards and mass vaccinations. Kidney dialysis patients are among those most at risk from COVID-19, which is especially deadly among people with chronic illnesses.
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I absolutely believe it was beneficial, he said. It was better than sliced bread.
Monoclonal antibody treatments like the one Weiss took and another one produced by Regeneron that was given to President
Donald Trump have shown promising signs in fighting the disease if given early in the infection. But the drugs aren t being widely used by the general public. A shortage of staff that can administer the drugs, which have to be given via IV drips, combined with delays in Covid-19 testing have limited their use, hospital administrators and public health specialists said. Insufficient data
There s a level of uncertainty around the value of the antibody treatments, said Marta Wosinska, deputy director at the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy, speaking last week at an event hosted by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. The only available data on the treatments have come from small clinical trials.
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