INTRODUCTION
- The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued new guidelines that recommend giving a combination of two antibody therapies to Coronavirus patients who are at high risk of hospitalisation or have a severe illness.
- For two distinct groups of COVID-19 patients, the WHO Guideline Development Group has proposed a therapy combining casirivimab and imdevimab.
- Patients with non-severe COVID-19 who are at high risk of hospitalisation receive the first of the suggested therapies, whereas those with critical or severe Coronavirus infections who are seronegative, meaning they have not established their antibody response to COVID-19, receive the second.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR TREATMENT BY WHO PANEL –
- The World Health Organization’s initial guideline for non-severe COVID-19 patients, at high risk of hospitalisation, is based on fresh evidence from three non-peer-reviewed studies whereas the second recommendation for people with critical or severe Coronavirus infections is based on results from another research, which found that the two antibodies are likely to minimise mortality and the requirement for mechanical ventilation in seronegative patients.
- Casirivimab and imdevimab were shown to lower the likelihood of hospitalisation and the length of symptoms in patients who were at higher risk of serious illnesses, like the older, unvaccinated, or immunosuppressed ones.
- The therapy resulted in 49 fewer deaths per 1,000 in seriously sick patients and 87 fewer deaths in critically ill patients.
CASIRIVIMAB AND IMDEVIMAB: WORKING AND LIMITATIONS –
- Casirivimab and imdevimab are monoclonal antibodies that bind to the S-CoV-2-spike protein and prevent the virus from infecting cells when administered combined. The spike protein aids the virus in attaching to human cells and infecting them.
- The WHO panel noted that the suggested antibody therapy had many cost and resource concerns. It might make entry to low- and middle-income nations more difficult.
- The panel also acknowledged the risk that new COVID-19 variants might arise with lower efficacy of the antibodies.
