WEDNESDAY, June 23, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Monoclonal antibody therapy seems to be beneficial for solid organ transplant recipients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19, according to a study published online June 7 in Open Forum Infectious Diseases.
Zachary A. Yetmar, M.D., from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and colleagues conducted a retrospective review of solid organ transplant recipients who received monoclonal antibody infusion for COVID-19 through Jan. 23, 2021. Data were included for 73 patients (63 percent male) with a median age of 59 years.
The researchers found that the patients were most often treated with bamlanivimab (75.3 percent). Within 28 days of infusion, 11 patients (15.1 percent) had an emergency department visit, including nine (12.3 percent) who were hospitalized for a median of four days. Intensive care unit admission for a nonrespiratory complication was necessary for one patient. None of the patients required mechanical ventilation, there were no deaths, and no patient experienced rejection. There were 10 adverse events; one required medical evaluation. There was an association for hypertension with hospital admission, but other baseline characteristics were similar. Symptom onset to antibody administration was a median of four and six days in nonhospitalized and hospitalized patients, respectively.
"Monoclonal antibody therapy is really important for the transplant population because they are less likely to develop their own immunity," a coauthor said in a statement. "Providing them with these antibodies helps them recover from COVID-19."
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