A 'godsend' or not 'worth the effort'? Monoclonal antibodies divide overwhelmed Covid doctors

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Dr. Michael Saag cannot get enough monoclonal antibodies to treat Covid-19.

But Saag, an infectious disease physician at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said he would take the monoclonal antibodies — made in a lab to mirror the body's natural immune response to the virus — "in a heartbeat" if he were to be infected a second time.

"Monoclonal antibody products are a godsend to those patients who are eligible and are seen by us early in the course of illness," Saag said. "The earlier, the better."

 

But many doses sit untouched at health care facilities across the country, with providers reluctant to them.

"A lot of us in infectious disease aren't sure that the monoclonal antibodies are worth the effort," said Dr. Christopher Ohl, a professor of infectious diseases at Wake Forest School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.