First doses of scarce coronavirus drug administered to patients at Fort Worth hospital
Novel coronavirus patients at a Fort Worth hospital have this week been treated with a scarce new antibody therapy.
Limited amounts of Bamlanivimab are being sent to hospitals, including Baylor Scott & White All Saints Medical Center – Fort Worth, to be prescribed in mild and moderate COVID-19 cases, and the drug’s first doses there outside a trial were administered on Monday, a spokesman for the hospital’s parent nonprofit health system said.
Baylor, Scott & White-Fort Worth, which did not say how many of its patients had been treated with the drug, had participated in a clinical trial to determine its efficacy.
The U.S. Food & Drug Administration established strict prescribing requirements for Bamlanivimab’s use after the drug won emergency authorization.
“It is very important to note that at this time, this product is quite limited in supply; therefore, we urge our communities to increase the preventive efforts we know are having an impact: wearing a mask, distancing from those outside of the household, and hand hygiene,” Michael Sanborn, Baylor, Scott & White-Fort Worth’s president, wrote in a statement.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said on Nov. 13 that the state Department of State Health Services was allocating initial shipments of the new therapy for distribution this week to acute care hospitals across the state.
The drug is for outpatient use with COVID-19 patients who are at increased risk of severe disease. The shipments are being provided at no cost via the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Abbott said.
Since the virus emerged in Texas, Baylor Scott & White has been screening and evaluating patients for COVID-19 before they reach a hospital, Dr. Alejandro Arroliga, the health system’s chief medical officer, wrote in a statement.
“This has allowed us to diagnose and support patients with mild disease as they treat in isolation, ensuring that our facilities are available to those who are most in need of care at this time,” Arroliga wrote.
Tarrant County reported about 1,700 new coronavirus cases and seven more deaths on Thursday, as hospitalization rates continued to hover near record levels. On Wednesday, the county reported about 2,100 new coronavirus cases, breaking the previous single-day record by nearly 600.
This story was originally published November 19, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
