Monoclonal antibodies (also called “mAb treatment”) are heavily promoted in Florida right now. My goal here is to share enough information to allow you to make a plan or make a decision in case of infection.
Here you can see the official information on Regeneron. Note that it is approved under emergency use. Make sure you look at the “Important Safety Information” section as you scroll down the page and note the possible side effects. These, in the opinion of a nurse friend, are typical side effects that all meds even aspirin and Tylenol have which can be found in the medication inserts. These effects are mild overall. Frequencies of side effects for Regeneron are not noted, so there is missing data. Again, decide for yourself. You might also weigh these side effects against the known possible COVID ‘side effects’ which include death, lung failure, kidney failure, heart issues, and more. These need to be compared by you, for you, for your exact situation and risk category.
Talking with Dr DeMello about the side effects he told me, “Those are a small price to pay for getting rid of the virus. Ideally Colchicine [see previous post “Dr DeMello Protocol”] should be used with monoclonal to reduce inflammation.
The following link has some good information, including this which should be noted:
“It may interfere with your body’s ability to fight off a future infection of SARS-CoV-2.”
A friend shared with me this picture of an actual handout he was given a few days ago. Note the part at the bottom about fighting off future Covid infections.
Here is a study that says if you’re going to get it, ideally it should be in the first 5 days of symptoms. This is different from the official position that you should get it in the first ten days of symptoms. Additionally, Dr DeMello said to me, when I asked him what he thought about the treatment, “Take it in the first 5 days of symptoms, doesn’t help after Day 6.”
From the study conclusion:
“Efforts should be made to infuse high risk patients with COVID-19 mAb therapy within 5 days of symptom onset,” the investigators concluded.”
Because I am unable to grab the link for the study (it’s a limited number of readings publication) I am copying the entire study right here below if you wish to read it.
Optimal Time Identified for Monoclonal Antibody Infusions in Patients With COVID-19
Patients with mild –or moderate COVID-19 who received a monoclonal antibody (mAb) infusion within the first 5 days of symptom onset experienced decreased disease progression compared with those who received the infusion after 6 or more days, according to results of a single-center retrospective case-control study presented at IDWeek, held virtually from September 29 to October 3, 2021.
Investigators performed a risk factor analysis on the composite outcome of subsequent evaluation of patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection who hospitalized or admitted to the emergency department (ED) and treated with mAbs between December 2020 and May 2021. They performed multivariate and univariate analyses to find significant variables.
Among a total of 288 patients included in the analysis, the mean age was 58.6 years, 59.7% were female, 64.9% were White, and 27.1% were Black.
Following mAb treatment, 31 (10.8%) patients required treatment in the ED or hospitalization due to disease progression. Patients who received early (days 1-5 of symptom onset) mAb infusion had a decreased risk for disease progression compared with those who received late (days 6-12 of symptom onset) mAb infusion (6.1% vs 13.2%; P =.048).
Of 21 patients who received mAb infusion between days 1 and 3 following symptom onset, none experienced disease progression.
Patients with certain comorbidities were more likely to have disease progression, including those with congestive heart failure (P =.038), cirrhosis (P =.012), chronic kidney disease (CKD) (P =.001), and hypertension (P =.021). No differences in disease progression were observed in regard to sex, ethnicity, BMI, or symptoms between the treatment groups.
A multivariate analysis showed an increased risk for disease progression among patients with cirrhosis (odds ratio [OR], 3.0; 95% CI, 1.1-7.9) and CKD (OR, 2.6; 95% CI, 1.0-6.4); however, early mAb infusion was found to decrease the risk for disease progression (OR, 0.38; 95% CI, 0.14-1.0).
“Efforts should be made to infuse high risk patients with COVID-19 mAb therapy within 5 days of symptom onset,” the investigators concluded.
Reference
Abusalem L, Wood C, Crescencio JCR, Dare RK. Risk factor analysis for hospital admission following severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) monoclonal antibody treatment. Presented at: IDWeek; September 29 to October 3, 2021
Here is a podcast clip of Del Bigtree (The Highwire Podcast) interviewing Dr. Bartlett, a Texas doctor– 18 minutes long – that is very encouraging about Regeneron. I invite you to listen to it here, or on your podcast app, just search for The Highwire podcast dated Sep 8th, 2021.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/is-monoclonal-antibody-treatment-saving-lives/id1227863378?i=1000534751661
The last thing I want to tell you about before I cover locations is that I joined a group on Facebook to see what people were saying about Regeneron.
Something to keep in mind about the membership in this group: there is a chance that it is biased towards people who want to complain and commiserate about their experiences, and therefore might not represent all the successes. But still, there are people in the group who are quick to respond with “Go do it! It’s worth it!” as well as people who are saying, “I feel like crap, did I do the right thing?”
Since it was hard to sort through all those anecdotes, I created a poll in the group, put down four options, and gave people a chance to add their own options to describe their experiences.
I specifically separated the responses related to “receiving IV infusions” from those related to “receiving injections”. I think the difference is significant. I believe Dr McCullough in his video on early treatment (earlier post) advised that IV infusion is preferable to injections for its slow speed of entry in the body. In my opinion, if you have a choice, you should pick the infusion.
Here are the results of the poll after being up in the FB group for a day:
48 votes: I received an IV infusion and felt great afterwards, no symptoms got worse, only better (option added by me)
22 votes: I received the IV infusion, got worse for about 24 hours then MUCH better. Some undesirable side effects (like RegeneRUNS) but worth it.
14 votes: I received injections and felt great afterwards, no symptoms got worse, only better (option added by me)
9 votes: I received injections and felt worse with fever and pains afterwards (option added by me)
7 votes: I had Regeneron infusion, fever afterwards gone less 24 hrs felt bad 72 hrs but then got better.
6 votes: I received the infusion & didn’t really get worse – but still had to endure the illness side effects for several days afterward
1 vote: I received injections as a precaution after being exposed, no side effects and did not get Covid.
1 vote: Got infusion. Fever broke & no more chills but still had extreme fatigue & shortness of breath for several days
0 votes: I received IV infusion and felt worse with fever and pains afterwards (option added by me)
You can NO LONGER join the group and look around and ask questions for yourself, the group was deleted by Facebook!
Where and how to get it:
Here is a website where you can search for a location across the nation:
https://covid.infusioncenter.org/
This is what comes up just by searching “where can I get monoclonal antibodies”:
https://protect-public.hhs.gov/pages/therapeutics-distribution
Strangely, when I put in my address, they fail to mention this location right here in Clearwater:
Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church
409 S Old Coachman Rd, Clearwater, FL 33765
That location above does come up when you enter Pinellas County on this page:
https://floridahealthcovid19.gov/monoclonal-antibody-therapy/
In order to make an appointment you will need to create an account. If this is something you plan to do, you can create your account right now and get that out of the way.
Create an account here:
Sorry, I don’t have specific information on registration and locations for other states, you’ll have to search for those.
I do know that Florida makes it very easy to get monoclonal antibodies, and I realize your state may not be as simple. I saw someone state that saying you are an ex-smoker can get you the treatment in those states that are less generous with it.
Important Update 1/19/22:
If you are going to get a monoclonal antibody treatment, make sure it’s the right one!
Ask the nurse at the facility before you receive the treatment, it’s worth double-checking.
Since the advent of Omicron Covid variant, it has been discovered that NOT all monoclonal antibodies will work against this variant, and Regeneron MABs do NOT work on Omicron.
This article goes over the differences in effectiveness from different monoclonals.
There are two antibodies that work against Omicron: Sotrovimab made by GlaskoSmithKline (GSK), and AstraZeneca’s EVUSHELD.
If you are in Florida, the information website says they are delivering Evusheld. Open this site and expand (+) the section for “When is the best time to get monoclonal antibody treatment”: https://floridahealthcovid19.gov/treatments/.
This is good news. according to this article:
“The studies were conducted in the laboratory, but unlike many earlier studies that utilized synthetic spike protein (pseudovirus) representing the Omicron variant, these studies used actual live viruses isolated from people who contracted the COVID-19 Omicron variant. AstraZeneca notes that EVUSHELD is “one of only two antibody therapies authorized for use that showed neutralizing activity against Omicron and against all other variants of concern in these two studies.”
Before you get your shots or your IV infusion, ask for the brand name of what you are receiving. You don’t want to be the victim of an operator mistake (receiving the wrong kind of antibodies). Until I hear that they trashed all the old supply, I would stay vigilant!
The government, apparently, has not read the memo – see this article:
What are the numbers?
In almost all the articles I’ve found, we are not given any real numbers on efficacy. Instead, I see words like Regeneron “loses potency”, “has diminished potency”, “is less effective”. This is pretty vague. I think this was left intentionally vague to keep the stock price up.
Here is one article where numbers are mentioned, but they are not studies, they come from and article quoting the Press Secretary for Governor DeSantis – so are these numbers an estimate? Hearsay? Hard to tell:
“However, she did point to comments made by DeSantis on Jan. 5, saying “there’s not enough evidence to say the Regeneron” doesn’t work. Pushaw [DeSantis Press Secretary Christina Pushaw] added that “there is still a lot to learn about the omicron variant because it is relatively new and not many studies have been done yet.”
“Anecdotally we’ve seen some positive outcomes, but even if it’s a reduction from 80%, uh, to 50% end [reduction in mortality], if you’re a high risk person, wouldn’t you want your symptoms or your chance of being hospitalized reduced in half, that’s a really, really big deal. And so we wanna make sure that we’re able to do that,” DeSantis said.“
Be well, do well, stay well!
