. . World news – CA – U. s. Hospitals restrict Lilly’s COVID-19 antibody treatment due to limited supply | CBC News

U. s. Hospitals, weighing the high demand and limited supplies, have said they may limit the use of a new antibody drug from Eli Lilly and Co to COVID-19 patients with multiple risk factors for serious illness or for those whose immune systems have not yet begun to fight infection..

Bamanivimab U was administered. s. Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) last week by the Food and Drug Administration to help newly diagnosed and high-risk patients avoid hospitalization.

“There will be a lot of pressure on the doctors,” Dr.. Adarsh ​​Bhimraj, an infectious disease specialist at the Cleveland Clinic and chair of the Infectious Diseases Association of America steering committee, which is still discussing its recommendations for medication.

Yo. s. President Donald Trump promoted experimental antibody drugs after he was treated with a similar treatment from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc during his private bout with COVID-19..

The federal government paid $ 1,250 per dose for 300,000 doses of pamlanifemab, which experts estimate may only be enough for one week after Americans become infected, based on the FDA label identifying suitable patients.

On Sunday, the United States exceeded 11 million total cases of coronavirus in just over a week, after reaching the 10 million mark since the start of the epidemic..

Medical groups and hospitals said they are working to establish standards for patients who are likely to benefit the most from the drug, which consists of synthetic versions of an antibody made by the human body to fight COVID-19..

“Otherwise, we’re going to be really off drugs soon,” said Dr.. Howard Huang, a lung specialist at Houston Methodist.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Bamlanivimab for patients over the age of 65 who have recently been diagnosed with mild to moderate COVID-19 and who have obesity, diabetes, or another risk factor.. The agency said that the drug should not be used in hospitals.

« There may be some kind of composite outcome » to selecting patients, Huang said. « Maybe we would use it with someone with cardiovascular disease, a history of stroke and the elderly? »

Dr.. There is a need for « more conservative standards », said Neha Nanda, medical director for infection prevention at Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.. « One of the groups you can rule out is someone with a positive antibody test, » she said.. “I think we might need to do that.

Regeneron said its experimental cocktail of antibodies to COVID-19 has shown the greatest benefit in patients who did not demonstrate an immune response prior to treatment.. The company is also pursuing an EUA.

Although the FDA approved a nighttime drug – based on published results from a small, mid-stage study – experts said they would like to see more clinical trial data.

The drug, which is administered as a one-time infusion, is initially only distributed to hospitals. Some have already been set up to treat trial patients, while others said they work in logistics.

The United States has the option to purchase another 650,000 doses, but hospitals expect the drug to eventually become a commercial product.

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Eli Lilly and Company, Samsung Biologics, Coronavirus, Antibody, Monoclonal Antibody therapy, Pharmaceutical Industry