Houston Methodist has administered monoclonal antibody treatments to nearly 4,000 patients with COVID-19 since the therapy was granted emergency use authorization last November. The health system outlined how it rapidly scaled out its antibody program in a March 29 article published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Four takeaways from the article:
1. Houston Methodist participated in clinical trials for the antibody treatments before they received emergency approval. Based on their own trial data, the health system predicted emergency authorization was impending and started preparing to administer the treatment four weeks before it was issued.
2. The three main challenges Houston Methodist faced in its rollout were implementing protocols to bring highly infectious COVID-19 patients to its hospitals, building a referral stream for patients and ensuring adequate antibody drug supplies.
3. The health system was able to overcome these obstacles and create six hospital-based antibody clinics across Houston in less than six weeks. On average, patients are connected to treatment within 1.2 days of their referral.
4. Houston Methodist said the therapy has prevented an estimated 250 patients from needing hospitalization.
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