A new cutting edge treatment aimed at reducing hospital admissions for high-risk COVID-19 patients is now available in central Illinois from OSF HealthCare.
Bamlanivimab, or simply called “Bam” for short, is a monoclonal immunotherapy infusion that has received emergency use authorization from the FDA. The lab-made antibody is only for certain qualified patients who have not been hospitalized, and works best when administered within 10 days of a person developing coronavirus symptoms.
“It’s no different than an antibody that you would produce in your own body, and it’s designed to attach to the COVID-19 virus, so it does not bind to the cells within your body,” said Dr. Brian Curtis, OSF’s vice president of clinical specialty services. “So that’s why we always discuss that the earlier you receive it, the better you will be.”
The one-time infusion is administered through an I-V and lasts about an hour, with Curtis saying patients are monitored for up to two hours after the procedure. Patients must meet several criteria to qualify, including not being admitted to the hospital.
“The emergency use authorization was very specific on the population of patients, so the first hurdle for you to meet is that you actually have to have a COVID-positive (test), either with the antigen or the PCR,” said Curtis. “The second one is that you have to be symptomatic from the COVID infection; this is not for asymptomatic individuals.”
Other qualifying factors include the patient must be at least 12 years old and weigh no less than 88 pounds. Adult patients must be 65 or older and have another risk factor, such as chronic kidney disease, diabetes, a body mass index (BMI) higher than 35, or immunosuppressive disease. Patients over 55 with heart or lung disease or who are receiving immunosuppressive treatment also are eligible.
Curtis said initial research indicates BAM prevents one hospitalization per 10 treatments, but the long-term prospects are not yet known.
“What they (the FDA) showed within the Bam data is that it prevented one hospital admission for every 10 infusions,” said Curtis. “Now, with the emergency use authorization, it hasn’t gone through kind of the typical process you would do with the FDA. But what they determined was the benefit of the medication outweighs any risk for the infusion of the medication.”
OSF is administering the Eli Lilly drug at designated outpatient sites. Curtis said the federal government allocates the Bam supply to states before it is distributed regionally based on need, and OSF receives weekly shipments, but is never sure how much it will get until it arrives.
Curtis said information in the initial Bam study indicated side effects for people taking the drug were no different than those of people who were given a placebo, notably the typical effects from any infusion: lower blood pressure and arm pain or swelling. He said broader availability of Bam is dependent on how much the manufacturer produces and waiting for full approval from the FDA.
“We’re still kind of waiting to see how effective it is, and we’ve only been infusing it for a couple of weeks,” he said. “So really, it’s too early for us to say if it’s had any kind of benefit within our rate of hospitalizations.”
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