NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – People with mild to moderate COVID-19 who were treated with casirivimab and imdevimab – two monoclonal antibodies with emergency-use authorization for COVID-19 in the U.S. – had lower hospitalization rates than untreated counterparts in a retrospective study.
Dr. Raymund Razonable of Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minnesota, and colleagues took a look back at 696 patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 who received the drug combo between December and early April and a matched group of 696 patients who did not.
The median age of the antibody-treated cohort was 63 years; about 45% were aged 65 or older and 51% were women. More than half (52%) had hypertension, 31% were obese, 25% had diabetes, 22% chronic lung disease, 11% chronic renal disease, and about 7% had congestive heart failure and compromised immune function.
Compared to the propensity-matched untreated cohort, patients who received casirivimab plus imdevimab had significantly lower all-cause hospitalization rates at day 14 (1.3% vs. 3.3%), day 21 (1.3% vs. 4.2%) and day 28 (1.6% vs. 4.8%).
Adverse events were uncommon and mild.
Among patients who were subsequently hospitalized, the rates of admission to the intensive-care unit and mortality were low in both treated and untreated patients, the researchers report in EClinicalMedicine.
“Once again, this real-world study suggests that when patients who are at high risk due to a range of comorbidities contract a mild or moderate case of COVID-19, this combination of monoclonal injections gives them a chance of a nonhospitalized recovery. In other words, they recover safely at home,” senior author Dr. Razonable said in a news release.
“Our conclusion overall at this point is that monoclonal antibodies are an important option in treatment to reduce the impact of COVID-19 in high-risk patients,” Dr. Razonable added.
This study was funded and conducted by Mayo Clinic in collaboration with Nference Inc.
SOURCE: https://bit.ly/2WCfwJg EClinicalMedicine, online August 30, 2021.
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