The FDA has just approved a medical advance that may make a significant in the treatment of COVID-19 patients. The Food and Drug administration has officially granted emergency use authorization for Regeneron’s monoclonal antibodies which are actually just a the sum of casirivimab and imdevimab. The mixture is used to treat ‘high risk’ moderate COVID-19 infections.
Both casirivimab and imdevimab are engineered, man-made antibodies. To be eligible to use the antibodies, patients must be 12 years or older. The prime candidates according to the FDA, however, are patients chronic medical issues that are 65 years old or more.
These new antibodies are proteins that act in a similar way to the body’s own immune system. The treatment appears to be ‘somewhat effective’, seeing a 3 percent drop in emergency room trips and hospitalizations compared to 9 percent in a control group.
The FDA went out of their way to explain that this was not a full approval. Apparently, there are some distinct limits. First of all, there was no evidence the antibodies helped with patients that were already-hospitalized. Also, in some cases, it might even lead to ‘worse clinical outcomes’ for people that require high-flow oxygen or ventilators.
