Monoclonal Antibodies against SARS-CoV-2: Potential Game-Changer Still Underused
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Abstract
Even several months after the start of a massive vaccination campaign against COVID-19, mortality and hospital admission are still high in many countries. Monoclonal antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 are the ideal complement to vaccination in infected subjects who are at high risk for progression to severe disease. Based on data of the Italian Ministry of Health, in the period April–August 2021, monoclonal antibodies were prescribed to 6322 patients. In the same period, 70,022 patients over 70 years old became infected with SARS-CoV-2. Even considering that all monoclonal antibodies were prescribed to this category of patients, we calculated that only 9% of these subjects received the treatment. Moreover, using efficacy data provided by clinal trials, we estimated the potential benefit in terms of reduction of hospital admissions and deaths. Considering utilisation of monoclonal antibodies in half infected patients over 70 years, we estimated that hospital admissions and deaths might have been reduced by 7666 and 3507, respectively. Finally, we calculated the economic benefit of monoclonal use. In the same scenario (50% use of monoclonal antibodies to patients over 70), we estimated potential savings of USD 117,410,105. In conclusion, monoclonal antibodies were used in a small proportion of patients over 70 in Italy. A more extensive use might have resulted in a marked decrease in hospital admissions, deaths and in conspicuous saving for the health system.
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SciScore for 10.1101/2021.09.27.21264191: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Ethics not detected. Sex as a biological variable not detected. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Table 2: Resources
Antibodies Sentences Resources We assumed three scenarios of monoclonal antibody use in people over 70 years of age (rates of use of 50%, 70% or 90%), and estimated their respective consequences on hospital admissions, deaths and costs based on data reported in the REGEN-COV trial (NCT04425629) (6) because complete data were not available for the other approved monoclonal antibodies (i.e. Bamlanivimab plus Etesevimab and Sotrovimab) (9,10). NCT04425629suggested: NoneSoftware and Algorithms Sentences Resources Using WebPlotDigitizer software, we … SciScore for 10.1101/2021.09.27.21264191: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Ethics not detected. Sex as a biological variable not detected. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Table 2: Resources
Antibodies Sentences Resources We assumed three scenarios of monoclonal antibody use in people over 70 years of age (rates of use of 50%, 70% or 90%), and estimated their respective consequences on hospital admissions, deaths and costs based on data reported in the REGEN-COV trial (NCT04425629) (6) because complete data were not available for the other approved monoclonal antibodies (i.e. Bamlanivimab plus Etesevimab and Sotrovimab) (9,10). NCT04425629suggested: NoneSoftware and Algorithms Sentences Resources Using WebPlotDigitizer software, we extracted all other data from the graphs on the web page of the Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics that were provided by Italian National Institute of Health (8). WebPlotDigitizersuggested: (WebPlotDigitizer, RRID:SCR_013996)Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).
Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:We acknowledge that this study presents several limitations; first of all, we projected the efficacy of monoclonal antibodies estimating a similar effectiveness in real-life compared to that from clinical trials. For example, the population considered in the present study was significantly different from that one enrolled in the trials at least in terms of median age; moreover, the estimate of the use of monoclonal antibodies is rough because it does not consider other categories in which monoclonal antibodies are indicated (e.g., subjects with immunodeficiency, diabetes, obese, etc.)
Results from TrialIdentifier: We found the following clinical trial numbers in your paper:
Identifier Status Title NCT04425629 Recruiting Safety, Tolerability, and Efficacy of Anti-Spike (S) SARS-Co… Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.
Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.
Results from rtransparent:- Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- No protocol registration statement was detected.
Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.
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