Patient beware: Some states are still pushing outdated Covid treatments

[riversedge]

Source: nbc news






Use of newly ineffective antibody therapies that don't work against the omicron variant is highest in a dozen states.



Jan. 21, 2022, 3:30 AM CST By JoNel Aleccia

As the omicron variant completes its sweep across the U.S., states with scarce supplies of monoclonal antibody therapies continue to use two treatments that federal health officials warn no longer work against the highly contagious version of the virus that causes Covid-19. The antibody treatment now most recommended is sotrovimab from GlaxoSmithKline and Vir Biotechnology, and it’s in short supply.

Use of the newly ineffective treatments produced by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Eli Lilly and Co. is highest in a dozen states. They include several Southern states with some of the nation’s lowest vaccination rates, but also California, which ranks in the nation’s top 20 for fully vaccinated residents, a KHN analysis of federal data shows. Many hospitals and clinics are still infusing the costly treatments — often charging hundreds of dollars a session — that public health officials now say are almost certainly useless.

That’s because of the near-total dominance of omicron, which accounted for 99.5 percent of new Covid infections in the U.S. during the week that ended Jan. 15, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.



That point was underscored this week by updated guidelines from the National Institutes of Health that now recommend sotrovimab as the primary monoclonal treatment for the disease.

Unless providers are certain they are still treating patients infected with the delta variant, they shouldn’t use the others, said Dr. Mark McClellan, director of the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy, who is also a former commissioner of the FDA and former administrator of CMS. And the delta variant is increasingly rare, accounting for 3 percent of cases in Louisiana, 7 percent in California, and 10 percent in Ohio, as examples.......................

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/covid-antibody-treatments-dont-work-omicron-still-used-states-rcna12990?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma

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Recall Gov DeSantis--Last summer or fall?? was pushing the monoclonal antibody treatments --cars lined up for hours --instead of vaccinations!! He wanted the treatments-the expensive treatments! instead of PREVENTING THE COVID INFECTIONS!!

Link to tweet

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Image: An intravenous bag used to administer the Regen-Cov monoclonal antibody treatment.
An intravenous bag used to administer the Regen-Cov monoclonal antibody treatment.Kayana Szymczak / Bloomberg via Getty Images file

[riversedge]

1. "DeSantis has said he is not convinced that the Regeneron and Lilly products don't work against omic

#deathdesantis is a dangerous idiot!



https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/covid-antibody-treatments-dont-work-omicron-still-used-states-rcna12990?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma

........In Florida, which used more than 5,200 courses of the outdated treatments during that two-week period, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has said he is not convinced that the Regeneron and Lilly products don’t work against omicron. In Florida, omicron accounted for 97 percent of cases as of Jan. 20; delta accounted for 3 percent.


“We have had practitioners give both of those to people with omicron who said the symptoms got resolved,” he said in a Jan. 5 speech provided by his spokesperson, Christina Pushaw.

Federal health officials managing allocation of the monoclonal antibody therapies paused shipments of the Regeneron and Lilly treatments on Dec. 23, after laboratory tests showed they were less effective against the surging omicron variant than the delta variant. But the Biden administration resumed shipments on Dec. 31, after complaints from DeSantis and some doctors that those therapies could still help people in places where the delta variant persisted.


Regeneron itself has said its antibody treatments are ineffective against the omicron variant. It contains more than 30 mutations in the virus’s spike protein, which makes the variant better at dodging the monoclonal antibody treatments.

“It’s really not justified at this point unless there’s some other underlying secondary gain, political pressure, or perhaps the providers are truly not in touch with the reality of the variant proportions,” Ramers said.

[chia]

2. Thank you, I had no idea, this is important info