(Reuters) – The intravenous antibody cocktail sold by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc (casirivimab/imdevimab) might work just as well if administered by injection under the skin, a new study suggests.

Doctors at the University of Pittsburgh, faced with a surge in patients and healthcare worker staffing shortages in September, began administering the treatment to non-hospitalized patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 via subcutaneous injection, a much simpler method than infusing it intravenously.

When they compared outcomes a month after treatment in 969 patients who received the cocktail subcutaneously and 1,216 who got it intravenously, the percentages of patients who ended up requiring hospitalization were only minimally higher in the injection group, according to a report posted on medRxiv ahead of peer review.

SOURCE: https://bit.ly/3EuWQwr medRxiv, online December 1, 2021.

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