Photo has been used for illustrative purpose.

Mariecar Jara-Puyod, Senior Reporter

Hospitalisation of mild to moderate Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) patients could be reduced if they were administered with a combination of two monoclonal antibodies. This medical approach alleviates the deeply challenged healthcare system, and more importantly, releases from their stressful plight, the hundreds of thousands of healthcare workers, in various parts of the world.

The conclusion and implications are from the December 2020 to April 2021 research, conducted in four Mayo Clinic hospitals in the USA, particularly in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Florida and Arizona.

In another study released on April 1, 2030 by the Oxford School of Health Sciences-Department of Primary Care Health Sciences-Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine in the UK, signs and symptoms exhibited by mild to moderate COVID-19 patients are coughing; fever of less than 39 degrees Celsius; absence of pneumonia, acute respiratory distressed syndrome, and non-intensive care unit (ICU) admission; dyspnea (shortness of breath); anosmia (loss of the sense of smell); diarrhOea; sore throat; fatigue; and rhinorrhea (thin and clear nasal discharges).

Findings of the Mayo Clinic monoclonal antibodies research had been published in the “EClinicalMedicine” of The Lancet weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal. The senior author, Mayo Clinic-Infectious Diseases Division vice-chairperson/Fellowship Education Programme director, Dr. Raymund Razonable, was email interviewed.

Razonable said the research, wherein 1,392 mild to moderately-infected were selected, was pursued “to assess the clinical outcomes of patients who were treated with the casirimivab and indevimab monoclonal antibody combination.”

 “The main implication of this is that patients were able to recover from COVID-19 while staying at home. They were less likely to need hospitalisation. This is important to reduce the number of patients in the hospital. This means that the burden on the hospital system (and the healthcare workers are eased),” said the Mayo Clinic Medicine professor.

Razonable cited that on the 14th day  from the time of treatment, 1.3 per cent or nine of the 696 patients had yet to be cleared of COVID-19 compared to the 33 per cent or 23 of the untreated 696. On the 21st day, only 1.3 per cent or nine of the treated was hospitalised compared to the 4.2 per cent or 29 of the untreated. At the end of 28 days, 1.6 per cent or 11 of those treated had not been discharged versus the 4.8 per cent or 34 of the untreated.

Asked for the way forward, Razonable replied the research results must encourage both the mild to moderate COVID-19 patients and their physicians to use the casirimivab-indemivab monoclonal treatment.