Two antibody cocktail recipients back home

Tribune News Service

Panchkula, June 16

Two Covid-19 patients who were the first ones to have received monoclonal antibody therapy in the tricity are back to their homes now.

Subhedra Kaushal (84) and Mann Singh (62) were administered a cocktail of Casirivimab and Imdevimab at the Civil Hospital in Sector 6 as part of the single-dose infusion-based treatment on Tuesday and then kept under observation.

After they were kept under observation, they were discharged from the hospital yesterday only. Both patients are now fine and asymptomatic. They will be retested for Covid tomorrow and there are 90 per chances of them testing negative,” said Dr Reeta Kalra of the Civil Hospital.

“My mother was discharged within hours after the infusion was complete. Her fever wasn’t going away from the past several days, but now she is doing completely okay. If the drug is made available at a large scale, it could be a game changer, especially for those with comorbidities. But not many people know about it,” said Dr Lalit, son of Subhedra Kaushal. Treating the two with the monoclonal antibody therapy was approved by a state-level three-member multi-displinary team.

The therapy reportedly reduce the chances of hospitalisation by 70 per cent in patients with mild to moderate symptoms, said health officials. It is most suited for high-risk criteria patients within 10 days from onset of symptoms.

The listed criteria includes 65 years or above, obesity with a body mass index of more than 35, chronic kidney disease, diabetes, immunosuppressive disease, currently receiving immunosuppressive treatment or if aged above 55 years with hypertension or cardiovascular disease or chronic lung disease.

The therapy is not recommended if 10 days have passed since the onset of symptoms or if the patient is unaware of the date when he/she first got symptoms. The treatment is also not recommended where patient is already hospitalised due to severe Covid-19, require oxygen therapy due or for those on chronic oxygen therapy due to underlying non-Covid co-morbidity.