CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Monoclonal antibody treatments that doctors used to prevent severe illness and hospitalizations may not be an option in the fight against omicron. Health leaders said COVID-19 antibody treatments made by Regeneron and Eli Lilly were found ineffective against omicron.
“We’ve given thousands of doses during the pandemic,” Dr. David Priest with Novant Health said. “[These treatments] are not going to be effective against the omicron variant, and these are the IV infusion treatments that healthcare systems have been using.”
This comes as COVID-19 cases in the North Carolina area are record-breaking with omicron continuing to spread through the state.
“We are seeing transmission at levels we have not seen before,” Mecklenburg County Health Director Dr. Raynard Washington said.
North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services said this week it’s no longer receiving the two treatments from the federal government and stopped distribution to local hospitals. Other options are available, but they’re in short supply and hard to find.
“There is one monoclonal antibody product that will be effective called Sotrovimab but the supply of that product is extremely limited right now,” Dr. Priest said. “There just isn’t enough for the volume of patients.”
There are other, newer therapies that are coming to the market. Doctors are excited about two different pills called Paxlovid and Molnupiravir, which were found to be effective in keeping people out of the hospital.
In the final analysis of its Phase 2/3 clinical trial, Paxlovid was found to be 89% effective at preventing high-risk people from being hospitalized or dying from COVID-19, according to Pfizer.
However, both Paxlovid and Molnupiravir are new to the market and right now they are in short supply.
“We need the public to be aware that if you’re unvaccinated and have a high risk of complications from COVID, there will be limited therapies we can offer you if you get COVID,” Priest said.
Leaders said on Friday that 74% of COVID-19 cases in Mecklenburg County are the omicron variant.
Contact Indira Eskieva at ieskieva@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram.
WCNC Charlotte is part of seven major media companies and other local institutions reporting on and engaging the community around the problems and solutions as they relate to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is a project of the Charlotte Journalism Collaborative, which is supported by the Local Media Project, an initiative launched by the Solutions Journalism Network with support from the Knight Foundation to strengthen and reinvigorate local media ecosystems. See all of our reporting at charlottejournalism.org.