Antibody Therapy Medication Heads To Texas In Coronavirus Fight

AUSTIN, TX — Texas will distribute an initial shipment of an antibody therapy medication as early next week to acute care hospitals across the state to combat the coronavirus, officials said Friday.

Gov. Greg Abbott said the Texas Department of State Health Services will distribute the first batch of bamlanivimab, the Eli Lilly & Company monoclonal antibody therapy, to hospitals located "across every geographic region of the state," he said in a prepared statement. These weekly shipments of doses have been provided to the state at no cost through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Abbott noted.

Initial distribution of bamlanivimab will be contingent on three criteria: New confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the community, new lab-confirmed COVID-19 admissions to hospitals and total lab-confirmed COVID-19 patients in hospitals, according to the governor's advisory.

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The drug shipments come at a time of exponential increases in the respiratory illness across Texas, which is on track to become the first state achieving the grim milestone of 1 million cumulative cases — a level some numbers crunchers say already has been achieved even though not illustrated on the state's statistical dashboard.

On the same day Texas reached an all-time daily high of 10,865 new coronavirus cases, state officials wrote of plans to stem the illness tide: "A vaccine distribution plan has been developed," Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) officials wrote Tuesday on Twitter. "Over 2,500 Texas providers have enrolled in the DSHS COVID-19 immunization program."

The agency shared the news following an announcement by Abbott of statewide preparedness to distribute medicines created to combat coronavirus. The news follows U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorization of an antibody drug by Eli Lilly & Co., called bamlanivimab, that has been shown to improve the symptoms of people who contract the virus and prevent hospitalizations.

"This initial allotment of bamlanivimab will help health care professionals effectively treat cases of COVID-19 within their communities and aid in reducing hospitalizations," Abbott said in a prepared statement. "I thank the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for providing Texas with this crucial antibody therapy that will help keep Texans safe and mitigate the spread of COVID-19."

State officials explained the drug bamlanivimab is for outpatient use in people who have tested positive for COVID-19, and are at increased risk of severe disease. It has been shown to prevent hospitalizations in some patients when used before they become very sick, officials added.