Heart of the Rockies Regional Medical Center (HRRMC) in partnership with Chaffee County EMS (CCEMS) has announced that it will cease operations of monoclonal antibody treatment for COVID-19 until further notice. The last day of treatment will be offered tomorrow, Dec. 24 from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
In a joint statement, the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services today announced that “circulating SARS-CoV-2 viral variants, including Omicron, may be associated with resistance to monoclonal antibodies.”
Which of course means, they aren’t likely to work on the coming dominant variant.
As HRRMC prepared for the virus, initial testing was set up outside the hospital Emergency Room, and the blue tent has been used most recently as the site for the administration of monoclonal antibody treatment, which it appears will be ineffective for the latest Omicron variant. Photo by Dan Smith.
The FDA updated the Health Care Provider Fact Sheets for monoclonal antibody treatments bamlanivimab and etesevimab administered together, REGEN-COV, and sotrovimab with specific information regarding ineffectiveness due to the Omicron variant. The data sets show that it is unlikely that the current monoclonal antibody treatment available at HRRMC will remain effective against this variant.
Additionally, according to a presentation from State Epidemiologist Rachel Herlihy, M.D., MPH on Dec. 21, the Omicron variant will displace the Delta variant as the most common variant in Colorado in the near future.
“Given these recent updates, HRRMC and CCEMS do not feel it is doing the community a service to offer treatment that may be ineffective for the current COVID-19 variant,” said April Asbury, VP of Patient Services at HRRMC. “HRRMC will provide updates to the community on whether monoclonal antibody treatments will be reinstated in the near future as more information and guidance is provided by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).”
The latest information on this topic from the FDA can be found here: https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/coronavirus-covid-19-update-december-23-2021
For more COVID-19 related information as it pertains to the hospital and clinics, visit hrrmc.com.
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