Haryana rolls out antibody cocktail therapy at govt hospitals in Gurugram, 5 other districts

GURUGRAM: The Haryana government on Wednesday started distributing vials of monoclonal antibodies that have received emergency use authorisation to treat Covid patients to hospitals in the state.
Haryana has received 590 vials of the antibody cocktail of Casirivimab and Imdevimab, which has been developed by Regeneron/Roche and is being marketed in India by Cipla. It has allotted 100 vials each to hospitals in Gurgaon, Faridabad and Panchkula. Rohtak, where PGI is located, has got 205.

The state has also constituted an expert committee to oversee distribution of the vials. This committee will examine each case and prescribe the drug. Casirivimab and Imdevimab are laboratory-manufactured antibodies that are copies of the antibodies the human body generates after an infection. The drug cocktail is specifically directed against the spike protein of the novel coronavirus, which it uses to attack human cells.
One vial can be used for two patients. Doctors said the experimental drug is meant for OPD use on mild to moderate patients and is to be administered as a single IV infusion. The patients will be monitored by the hospitals every day. Officials said private hospitals will have to procure the vials on their own as the allotted vials to the six districts, including Karnal and Hisar, are for patients visiting the OPDs of government hospitals.
Dr Virender Yadav, chief medical officer, Gurgaon, told TOI, “The therapy aims to reduce hospitalisation of Covid patients by 70%. All patients who will be administered this therapy will be put in home care. We have received 100 vials which can be used for 200 Covid patients. These vials will be used only in Gurgaon’s Civil Hospital. Patients will be given this drug free of cost at Civil Hospital.”
“The drug, Regen-cov, is to be used only in patients with mild to moderate disease but with a high chance of progression to severe disease,” said Dr Arun Chowdary Kotaru, consultant (pulmonology), Artemis Hospitals.
Dr Sushila Kataria, intensive care expert at Medanta, told TOI, “On Tuesday, the therapy was given to an 84-year-old patient. It can be given to patients having chronic kidney disease, diabetes, immunosuppressive disease, patients currently receiving immunosuppressive treatment, Cardiovascular disease, hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other chronic respiratory disease. The authorised dosage is 600 mg of Casirivimab and 600mg of Imdevimab administered together as a single intravenous (IV) infusion. The patient can be given injections as soon as possible after a positive viral test for SARS-CoV-2 and within 10 days of the onset of symptoms.”
PGIMS Rohtak administered this drug to three patients on Monday – an 86-year-old man, a 64-year-old man and an 83-year-old woman who had Covid and were undergoing treatment there.
Dr Dhruv Chaudhary, nodal officer for Covid-19 in Haryana and a member of the expert committee for the distribution of Regen-cov, said, “This drug should not be given to patients who are more than 10 days from symptom onset, patients who have been hospitalised due to Covid-19 and those with oxygen requirement or on chronic oxygen therapy for an underlying condition. This also should not be given to an asymptomatic patient.”
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