Norman Regional encouraging antibody therapy to prevent more hospitalizations

Reese Gorman, The Norman Transcript, Okla.
·4 min read

Sep. 3—With COVID-19 hospitalizations rising across the state of Oklahoma and in Norman, medical professionals at Norman Regional Health System are urging eligible Oklahomans who test positive for COVID to receive an antibody treatment they say significantly decreases the likelihood of being hospitalized due to COVID.

Hospitalizations are rising at facilities across the state, and NRHS is no different. From Aug. 27 to Sept. 2, the health system reported an average of 62 COVID patients in the hospital at the end of each day — up from the previous week's number of 50.7 — and 15.3 COVID patients in the ICU at the end of each day, up from 10.9 the previous week.

Though the consensus at NRHS and among health care professionals is that the vaccine is the best way to prevent hospitalization due to COVID, for those who do fall ill with the virus — whether vaccinated or unvaccinated — getting a monoclonal antibody transfusion could be life saving.

These transfusions contain man-made antibodies created to battle COVID cells. The antibodies fuse in an IV and attach to cells in the body; the antibody cells then replicate so the COVID cells don't continue to grow and replicate, said Stephanie Allen, manager of oncology and infusion services at NRHS.

"It neutralizes out the COVID and kickstarts your body into making more antibodies," Allen said.

The treatment is administered at NRHS' Outpatient COVID infusion center located at 516 E. Rich St. in Norman.

The antibodies must be administered within 10 days of onset of symptoms, and patients must meet at least one of a set of criteria in order to receive the treatment. The criteria or conditions required include:

* 65 years of age or older

* Obesity or being overweight (BMI greater than 25 kg/m2)

* Pregnancy

* Chronic kidney disease

* Diabetes

* Immunosuppressive disease or immunosuppressive treatment

* Cardiovascular disease

* Chronic lung diseases

* Sickle cell disease

* Neurodevelopmental disorders

* Having a medical-related technological dependence or positive pressure ventilation (not related to COVID-19)

"There's also a small population if you haven't tested positive yet, but you were exposed to a known positive person and you're super high risk, we can help those patients too," Allen said.

Currently, NRHS is seeing a hospitalization rate of below 5% for the people that receive this treatment, said Toby Branum, director of ambulatory care at NRHS.

"We're only seeing about 2% return on hospitalizations after treatment," he said.

Although NRHS does see some vaccinated patients who contract COVID, Allen said the majority of those the hospital is seeing for treatment are unvaccinated patients.

"The majority of what we see are unvaccinated, and hands down they're sicker than the vaccinated patients," she said. "But after treatment, they'll start feeling better within two or three days."

Before receiving the treatment, a patient must be recommended by a primary care provider, who will send NRHS a referral. If the patient meets NRHS' criteria, the health system will schedule the transfusion with the patient directly.

"From an insurance perspective, we don't charge for the drug because we don't pay for the drug yet," Allen said. "We just charge for the administration service, and however your insurance covers an outpatient visit, that's how it pays. We haven't heard of too many patients being unhappy with what their final bill is, and Medicare is paying for it."

Jennifer Davis, who works in the infusion center, said that one of the biggest concerns she hears from patients is their belief that this treatment is a new drug that's essentially being tested on them. That assumption is not true at all, she said.

"It's not a new drug class," she said. "We give monoclonal antibodies for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, cancer and osteoporosis, so the drug class itself is not new. It's just a drug that's made specifically now for COVID, and that helps give people a little bit of reassurance, because some people are completely unaware of what it is and that helps them to feel more comfortable knowing that we've been treating with this type of drug (for a while)."

NRHS is urging patients not to put the treatment off, as early detection leads to the best and most effective treatment.

"The patients that are in denial of COVID and think it's just allergies, we encourage them to get tested, so if it is COVID we can get the ball rolling faster for them and have them not fall outside that 10-day window," Allen said.

For more information on treatment, prospective patients can call the clinic at 405-307-2690. If they are COVID positive, patients need to see their primary care physician and receive a recommendation from them.

Reese Gorman covers politics and COVID-19 for The Transcript; reach him at rgorman@normantranscript.com or @reeseg_3.