Monoclonal Antibody Treatment Significantly Reduced All-cause Hospitalizations

The JAMA Network recently published an Original Investigation that found that a single intravenous dose of sotrovimab, an anti-SARS-CoV-2 monoclonal antibody (mAbs) treatment, resulted in a statistically significant reduction in the proportion of patients who experienced a composite outcome of all-cause hospitalization lasting longer than 24 hours or death through day 29 (1% vs. 6%, respectively; adjusted relative risk, 0.21).

This is an important finding since older patients and those with comorbidities infected with SARS-CoV-2 may be at increased risk of hospitalization and death.

Even though sotrovimab also significantly reduced viral load at day 8 (consistent with the drug’s mode of action comprising virus neutralization and Fc-mediated effector function), the magnitude of these reductions was modest.

These data suggest that nasopharyngeal viral load changes alone may not be a strong predictor of clinical disease course with sotrovimab treatment.

This finding is consistent with the lack of evidence indicating that antiviral activity in the lung can be accurately measured with a nasopharyngeal RT-PCR test due to the anatomical site and the fact that viral RNA may persist in the absence of the replication-competent virus.

The study was conducted at 57 sites in Brazil, Canada, Peru, Spain, and the U.S. from August 2020, through March 11, 2021, with follow-up data were collected through April 8, 2021. 

These dates indicate the Delta and Omicron virus variants were not evaluated.

Corresponding Author: Adrienne E. Shapiro, MD, Ph.D., Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center: [email protected].

Sotrovimab, known as Xevudy internationally, is a neutralizing mAbs authorized by the U.S. FDA for the treatment of high-risk patients to prevent COVID-19 progression.

Other mAbs news is posted at PrecisionVaccinations.com/antibody.

Note: This JAMA study was edited for clarity and curated for mobile readers.