The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has launched a COVID-19 antibody treatment locator to help patients and providers find monoclonal antibody therapeutics for COVID-19.
The tool, based on shipments reported by the distributor, currently only displays information from 22 states.
Located at HHS’ Protect Public Data Hub, the tool displays locations that have received shipments of therapeutics under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authority within the past several weeks.
As of Monday, the locator displayed data from only 22 states. HHS notes that states must opt-in to have facility information displayed. Also, it does not display locations that received fewer than five courses of treatment.
“The therapeutics have been allocated to all states and U.S. territories,” explained an HHS spokesperson. It was noted the more states have since opted in and their information will show in the system soon.
“This locator allows patients and providers to find sites for outpatient treatment options, which may help reduce the number of people who require hospitalization for COVID-19 care, which in turn reduces the strain on our nation’s hospitals and their staff,” said Dr. Robert Kadlec, the HHS Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, in a statement.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
The FDA issued an emergency use authorization to use two monoclonal antibody therapeutics, manufactured by Regeneron and Eli Lilly, in November of last year.
Some doctors at the Mayo Clinic, say such treatments can help keep high-risk patients out of the hospital. Others point to guidelines issued by the National Institutes of Health that are less definitive as to the treatments’ potency or advantage.
Still, patients have reportedly expressed urgency (and difficulty) in accessing the treatments, especially following President Donald Trump’s highly publicized use of them. HHS says it is working with healthcare organizations on provider education and patient awareness.
About 75% of the treatment courses allocated thus far remain available for use, according to the agency.
“One of the challenges we’ve heard is that healthcare providers and patients don’t know how to find where the treatment courses have been delivered. This treatment locator helps meet that challenge, so HHS is encouraging all states to participate,” said the HHS spokesperson.
Right now, for instance, treatment location information is not available for New Jersey, which has the highest COVID-19 per-capita death rate. It is also not available for New York, where in New York City 305 per 100,000 people have died of COVID-19 since January 2020.
The locator shows locations where therapeutics have been delivered that are open to the general public. However, the tool is based on shipments reported by the distributor and is not a guarantee of availability.
THE TREND
The federal government first developed its HHS Protect Hub last year, when it also directed hospitals to bypass the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention when reporting COVID-19 patient data.
Although that instruction was met with controversy and chaos, nearly every state now shows hospitals at 100% reporting rates on the HHS Protect hub.
Unfortunately, HHS has not, however, used the hub to address the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, instead, leaving the logistics of allocation up to the states (with varying results).
For more information on how COVID-19 antibody treatment can help treat high-risk patients, click here.
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