New COVID Antibody Treatment Center Opens At UMass Memorial
WORCESTER (CBS) -- UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester has a brand new COVID treatment clinic.
Doctors will use the new antibody treatment center to deliver monoclonal antibody treatments.
The infusions will help coronavirus patients at high risk of complications stay out of the hospital. The infusions will be given with 10 days from the start of symptoms. Doctors say the patients usually notice an improvement 24 to 72 hours after the 30-minute treatment.
The treatment center opened on Wednesday. It will run from the hours of 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.
"As the Delta variant is spreading more rapidly in Massachusetts, this facility will help us to care for more individuals, preventing the spread of the disease," said Michael Gustafson, MD, president of UMass Memorial Medical Center.
While the unit is mobile, it will stay on hospital property.
"The therapy is the first COVID treatment granted emergency use authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for outpatient use," said UMass Memorial in a press release. "A Phase 3 clinical trial showed that the antibody therapy reduced the risk of hospitalization or death by up to 87% in patients who received the drug intravenously compared to those who received a placebo."
The antibody treatment will be free for all patients.