Piedmont Healthcare now offers Bamlanivimab, a monoclonal antibody treatment for high-risk patients diagnosed with COVID-19 that do not require hospitalization and oxygen therapy.

The Bamlanivimab treatment, approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration through an emergency use authorization in November 2020, is intended for individuals who have who have tested positive for COVID-19 and are at a high-risk for hospitalization and potential complications, including those aged 65 years or older or who have certain chronic medical conditions.

Patients receive the treatment through infusion during an outpatient visit, and it works by preventing the COVID-19 virus from progressing once it’s infected them. Bamlanivimab mimics a person’s immune system response to viruses and blocks the COVID-19 virus from entering and attaching to cells.

The treatment has been proven to decrease the viral load in patients and has also been successful in reducing hospitalization for high-risk patients with COVID-19.

Those considered high risk include:

• People who are 65 years of age and older,

• People who have chronic kidney disease,

• People who have an immunosuppressive disease state or are receiving immunosuppressive therapy,

• People who have a body mass index of 35 and higher,

• People with diabetes,

• And people 55 years of age and older with cardiovascular disease, hypertension, COPD or other chronic respiratory diseases. 

To receive treatment, patients need to be referred to the infusion center by a doctor within the first 10 days of having symptoms of COVID-19. Piedmont’s infusion centers are located at Piedmont Atlanta Hospital, Piedmont Henry Hospital, Piedmont Athens Regional, Piedmont Mountainside and at Piedmont Columbus Regional.

For more information on Piedmont’s COVID-19 response, visit piedmont.org/covid19.