The Canary Islands buy new monoclonal antibody treatments for Covid

The Ministry of Health for the Canary Islands has reported that they have ordered new monoclonal antibody treatments which are new antiviral therapeutic alternatives for Covid-19 that have been approved by the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products, and whose purchase has been finalized this week.

These treatments are primarily for high-risk patients with mild or moderate illness who are not hospitalized, or if they are part of a hospital or socio-health centre outbreak.

In addition, serious or critical patients, i.e. adults and adolescents over 12 years of age weighing more than 40 kilos, were hospitalized for Covid with negative serology for SARS-CoV-2, meaning that antibodies were not detected in the test result, may also benefit from this therapeutic alternative.

The Ministry of Health has confirmed that they have acquired two types of drugs that respond to treatment for these patient profiles, Ronapreve and Sotrovimab, with an investment of 642,500 euros.

For patients hospitalized infected with a non-Omicron variant, the monoclonal antibody of choice is Ronapreve, while for those with the Omicron variant, Sotrovimab will be used, the only monoclonal currently available against Omicron.

For high-risk patients with mild or moderate illness who are not hospitalized or are part of a hospital or socio-health centre outbreak, treatment with Remdesivir is recommended, as it is for those with less than 7 days of evolution, or treatment with monoclonal antibodies or antivirals.

General conditions for the use of monoclonal antibodies:
For the use of monoclonal antibodies, a series of high-risk conditions are established to be prioritized, such as:
– Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Recipients or CAR-T.
– Solid organ transplant recipients.
– Primary immune-deficiencies.
– Immunosuppressive treatment with biological immune-modulators.
- Cystic fibrosis.
– Down syndrome patients aged 40 or older.

In addition to these, the Canary Islands will receive a new drug called Paxlovid® (nirmatrelvir and ritonavir) purchased by the Ministry of Health in Spain, which will be distributed to all Health Services throughout the country for the treatment of non-hospitalized patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 disease, both adults and pediatric patients (12 years of age and older weighing at least 40 kg).