New COVID-19 Drug To Treat Omicron Cases Arrives At Local Hospitals, Pharmacies
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Local hospitals and some pharmacies have received their first shipments of a new drug aimed at fighting against the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
That drug is called Bebtelovimab -- bringing a second monoclonal antibody into the mix when providing treatment for COVID-19.
However, some doctors say they may not use this new drug right away.
The drug is expected to be used to treat COVID-19 patients age 12 and older, who are not hospitalized, but are at high risk of developing severe symptoms.
The FDA authorized the antibody on Feb. 11, and Pennsylvania has received more than 1,000 doses of the drug so far.
Hospitals in the AHN, UPMC and Excela Health networks have received the drug, as have some independent pharmacies in the area.
AHN's pharmacy director says the supply of the drug is short right now.
"We have Bebtelovimab on hand; we received it on Friday from the Pennsylvania Department of Health. We are planning on using it primarily on the BA.2 variant of Omicron, which is not yet dominant in our area. We are getting everything ready from the build perspective. So we are ready to administer as soon as we see a little bit of dominant BA.2 strain in our community," Dr. Arpit Mehta said.
Mehta says right now, the hospital network will use their supply of Sotrovimab for patients who need it.
Sotrovimab was the only monoclonal antibody that worked against Omicron, which is still the dominant strain across the United States.
UPMC'S Dr. Erin McCreary, who is an infectious diseases pharmacist, said they're waiting for 80 doses of Bebtelovimab to be delivered.
After reviewing more data, then they'll offer it to people with COVID who are at risk of developing severe symptoms.
In the meantime, they'll administer Sotrovimab, but Dr. McCreary says they would rather prevent people from getting COVID.
She says now they're offering more doses of Evusheld. It's a preventative monoclonal antibody treatment to those who are moderate to severely immunocompromised.
Dr. McCreary says before, people could only receive this treatment through a lottery system.
"As of today, we are able to accept referrals for Evusheld from providers outside the UPMC health system," McCreary said. "Any provider can refer a patient to receive this at one of our clinics."
Dr. McCreary wants to make it clear that Evusheld doesn't replace the COVID vaccine. It's just another layer of protection.
She recommends people to still get vaccinated.
UPMC has administered about 1,000 doses of Evusheld so far. For more information on Evusheld, visit this link.
Lilly, the maker of Bebtelovimab, is expected to provide up to 600,000 doses of the drug nationwide.