CHRISTUS St. Frances Cabrini is now offering a new antibody treatment for COVID-19 patients at one of its health clinics.
For positive COVID-19 patients who are at a greater risk for hospitalization, the monoclonal antibody therapy will be available starting Tuesday at the community clinic on MacArthur Drive.
CHRISTUS Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jose Zapatero tells KALB, treatment can be life-saving to those who are vulnerable to severe illness, and have mild to moderate COVID-19.
Keep in mind, the emergency use of monoclonal antibodies was recently authorized by the FDA to treat mild to moderate cases of coronavirus. These antibodies mimic the immune system’s ability to fight off the virus.
CHRISTUS officials tell KALB, early results show this type of therapy is beneficial when given early – before a patient’s immune system has created an antibody response. That’s why it’s important for someone to be evaluated at the first sign of symptoms so they can be treated appropriately.
“If a person thinks that they have symptoms of COVID and they have high risk, it’s really important that they see their primary care provider or urgent care as soon as possible. They can then do a test, an antigen test or a PCR looking for a genome of the virus and then if it’s positive and they have the risk factors, they can then make the referral to go to to the Christus Community Clinic.”
The current supply available at the clinic is reserved for patients who have an increased risk for severe illness. Patients should expect the process to take up to eight hours.
