Preliminary experiment of cocktail of two antibody drugs successful: BMC

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], July 13 : The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Monday informed that preliminary experiment of a cocktail of two antibody drugs -- Casirvimab and Imdevimab - has been successful.
As per a statement issued by the BMC, as many as 200 patients have been treated using the cocktail of Casirvimab and Imdevimab drugs at Seven Hills Hospital in Mumbai's Andheri area.
"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 municipal corporation said.
The BMC Health Administration has implemented this cocktail medicine system on a pilot basis at Seven Hills Hospital. Till date, 212 Covid patients have been given this cocktail medicine through saline. Out of these, conclusions have been reached after the treatment of 199 patients. A detailed study is being done by the administration.
"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," BMC said.
The municipal corporation 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," it said.
Considering the conclusions at the end of the treatment, the patients who were given a cocktail of two antibodies--Casirivivmab and Imdevimab-- had to undergo treatment in the hospital for only 5 to 6 days, the release said.
"In comparison, patients taking other drugs during the first and second wave had to stay in the 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.
The BMC said that at the end of the observation, it was noticed that the fever stopped in the patients within 48 hours after giving the cocktail medicine.
"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," it stated.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra witnessed as many as 7603 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, taking its cumulative infection tally to 6,165,402, a health department bulletin showed. The COVID-19 related death toll rose to 126,024, as the daily fatalities fell to 53, according to the health bulletin issued on July 12.