Page 28 - White Plains Hospital Annual Report 2020-2021

NEUTRALIZING THE VIRUS EARLY
A determination to find better options for COVID-19 patients led White Plains Hospital to become one the first hospitals involved in monoclonal antibody treatments.
In November 2020, when former President Donald Trump became infected with COVID-19, he was given an antibody cocktail developed by Tarrytown-based biomedical company Regeneron, which helped to slow down his symptoms and speed his recovery. The treatment’s success spurred the US Food and Drug Administration to issue
emergency-use authori- zations for Regeneron’s treatment, known as COV-2, as well as another mono- clonal antibody (mAb) cocktail, bamlanivimab, developed by drug manu- facturer Eli Lilly.
The high-profile nature
of the President as a
patient brought these
mAb treatments into the
awareness of the general
public, but a group of
doctors at White Plains
Hospital were already
well entrenched in its path to availability. About eight months after the pandemic began, the Hospital became involved in a mAb treatment trial with Regeneron, recruiting eligible, early- stage COVID-19 patients for the antibody treatment research.
“These monoclonal antibody treatments consist of synthetic antibodies, created in a lab, which
function like naturally occurring antibodies and fight infections before they spread, which can prevent patients from experiencing severe symptoms that lead to hospitalizations,” explains WPH Associate Medical Director, Dr. Neritan Mani, who is overseeing White Plains Hospital’s
mAb program. The treatments are not effective in COVID-19 patients who are already severely ill with the virus, but, explains Dr. Mani, “using therapy early on in the course of the disease can overwhelm it and suppress it.” Patients receive the antibody cocktails as an infusion treatment administered through an IV and the process is supervised by a doctor or nurse practitioner who
monitors the patient for side effects or concerns.
While science brought about these treatments, Dr. Mani credits dedication from compassionate doctors seeking to help their patients with bringing this treatment to White Plains Hospital so quickly.
“Our doctors were desperate to have something better to offer their patients,” says Dr. Mani of the early days of the pandemic. The trial phase, he
Between December 2
and March 31, nearly 614 COVID-19-positive patients were treated and 93% of those avoided hospitalization.
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