State Doctors Discusses Potential Therapies For COVID-19

The federal government announced it would stop shipping out a monoclonal antibody cocktails because it was not working well against some COVID-19 variants.

However, doctors in the state said there are other monoclonal antibodies they are able to use.

Dr. David Chansolme, Integris’ medical director of infection prevention, said that the federal government is no longer sending out the antibody cocktail Oklahoma used the most often.

However, there are still other monoclonal antibody options. 

“You could use Regeneron, but we just didn’t have a lot of that,” Dr. Chansolme said.

Despite losing one option, Dr. Chansolme said monoclonal antibody therapy for COVID-19 has been the most beneficial. 

“It shows a significant decrease in the people that have to be hospitalized if they get it early,” Dr. Chansolme said.

The drugs are still administered under an emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration, but Dr. Chansolme said just about anyone should be eligible. 

“Essentially, it is for people who are not hospitalized and not requiring oxygen,” Dr. Chansolme said.