Mumbai antibody cocktail therapy was successful says BMC Health admin; read details

As the country continues to grapple with the pandemic, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Monday said that a preliminary experiment of a cocktail of two antibody drugs- Casirvimab and Imdevimab has been successful. According to the statement issued by BMC, as many as 200 patients have been treated using an antibody cocktail of Casirvimab and Imdevimab drugs at the Seven Hills Hospital in Mumbai's Andheri area. 

BMC: 'Antibody cocktail experiment successful'

The BMC said, "The number of patients in need of oxygen after this cocktail medication is only 0.5 per cent and the mortality rate is reduced by a staggering 70 per cent. Earlier, the requirement of 13 to 14 days of hospitalisation reduced to 5 to 6 days."

The BMC Health Administration said that it has implemented this cocktail medicine system on a pilot basis at the Seven Hills Hospitals. It further informed that to date 212 COVID patients have been given this cocktail medicine through saline.  "These 199 patients included 101 patients in the age group of 18 to 45 years, 45 patients in the age group of 45 to 59 years, and 53 patients in the age group of 60 years. Out of a total of 199, 74 were co-morbid patients," the BMC added.

The BMC said, "All these 199 patients were in the mild to moderate infection group. At the start of treatment, 179 of these 199 sufferers had a fever, 158 had a cough with a fever or coughing without a fever. Also, 4 patients had to be on oxygen support. Considering the classification according to the HRCT test, the average HRCT score of the patients was 7 to 8 out of 25. The highest HRCT score was 11 out of 25."

As per the release, the patients, who were given a cocktail of 2 antibodies, had to undergo treatment in the hospital for only 5 to 6 days. Whereas, the patients taking other drugs during the first and the second wave had to stay in hospital for 13 to 14 days. Although the patients were recovering quickly, they were kept in the hospital for a longer period of time to study the dosage of the drugs as well as to monitor the condition of the patients," it added.

"Out of 199, only one person had to be supplied with oxygen. This proportion is only 0.5 per cent. It is a great relief, considering the amount of oxygen that was needed earlier for COVID-19 patients. Because in the first and second waves, at least 20 per cent of the patients had to be given oxygen. 5per cent of patients had to undergo intensive care (ICU) treatment. Most importantly, no side effects have been reported in any of the patients. The death toll has also dropped by a staggering 70 per cent," BMC stated.

COVID-19 situation in Maharashtra

Maharashtra has so far recorded over 61,57,799 positive cases, out of which, 59,12,479 have successfully recovered and 1,25,878 have died. As per the latest reports from MoHFW, in the past 24 hours, 8,535 new cases, 6,013 fresh recoveries and 350 deaths have been reported. Currently, the total number of active cases in the state is 1,19,442.  As far as the COVID-19 vaccination tally of the state is concerned, the total number of doses administered is 3,70,25,110, out of which, 2,89,82,785 is the first dose and 80,42,325 are the second dose. 

(Image: PTI-Representative)