Doctor encourages COVID-19 patients to consider monoclonal antibody treatment

CASPER, Wyo. (Wyoming News Now) - The FDA has given emergency use authorization for monoclonal antibody treatment for people with moderate COVID-19 symptoms.

The treatment includes a 20-minute IV infusion then a 60-minute observation period.

“COVID-19 is here it’s still here, we’re all fatigued about it we’ve talked about it in depth and I know people are quite frankly just tired of it. But we still need to keep all of our awareness with hand washing, masking, vaccination. If you do come down with COVID-19 talk to your provider about monoclonal antibody therapy... It is a wonderful, wonderful tool that we have in our arsenal,” said Primary Care Physician Andy Dunn.

To qualify for the treatment, patients need to be at least 12 years old, with symptoms of COVID-19 that began less than ten days ago, and be considered high risk for developing severe symptoms or requiring hospitalization.

According to Dr. Dunn the treatment reduces the virus’s replication and progression, which leads to less viral load, less shedding time, and a greater chance of not being hospitalized. The antibodies are protective proteins that help to clear the virus faster and reduce symptom severity and course when given soon after a COVID diagnosis.

“We’ve been doing this for quite some time now, it’s such a useful, useful tool to combat the COVID-19 virus and it’s something we underutilize quite frankly,” said Dunn.

Seek the advice of your medical provider for next steps if you test positive for COVID-19.

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