Thousands of doses of effective covid drugs are wasted in stores. Why?

Stocks are still large, with thousands of packages stored. Some hospitals see a problem with practitioners, complaining that patients with problems do not call them.

“We have full stocks of medicine from Regeneron and the GPs are not sending us patients. I don’t understand. I don’t understand why someone is dying today,” Miloslav Ludvík, director of Motol University Hospital, criticized the situation on Television Czech this week.

Bamlanivimab and Regn-cov2 are practically 100% effective in the first phase of the disease, are given as an outpatient infusion in hospitals, and the patient is treated at home after the procedure.

These effective but expensive drugs were imported at the instigation of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš this spring, but because the Ministry of Health did not want to relax the rules for the long-term administration of these drugs, they only reached dozens of patients and the public was practically unaware of them.

It was only after a series of articles of the Law that the situation changed and the overly strict criteria for administering these drugs were drastically relaxed. The main condition since then is age over 65 or patients at risk of chronic disease, diabetics and the like.

It is important that these medicines are given within ten days of the first symptoms. If any of the patients at risk have been in close contact with the infected person, there is no need to expect a positive test result. He may be sent for treatment by a doctor within four days of the last risky contact, but this does not seem to happen very often.

Fortunately, the situation is starting to change in some places. “In the summer, the number of applications was minimal. We now apply monoclonal antibodies daily to three to five patients and it will probably continue to increase,” described the head of the Department of Infectious Medicine, Ostrava University Hospital, Lenka Petroušová. “In total, we have so far treated 150 patients,” she added.

It is the Moravian-Silesian Region that is currently most affected by the epidemic, which, according to statistics, is also related to areas where vaccination coverage of the population is low.

The University Hospital in Brno also consumed 160 packs. More than seventy infected people also received treatment in Pilsen. “Of course, as the number of covid-positive patients increases, so does the need for antibody administration. In the last two months, monoclonal antibodies have been administered in our clinic in thirteen patients,” Jana said. Váchalová, Deputy Head of the Department of Infectious Diseases and Travel Medicine, Pilsen University Hospital.

The growing number of infected can be expected. “It is clear that the virus will partially escape vaccination and vaccination protection will expire,” explained IHIS chief Ladislav Dušek. That is why the ministry recommends re-vaccination with a booster dose of the vaccine. According to Dušek, 20 to 30 seniors became infected per 100,000 inhabitants. This is not a dramatic number compared to young people who predominate among those who have just become infected.

Despite this, some end up in hospital and, according to Dušek, start arriving at the ICU as well. “We are now starting to see a relatively sharp rise in severe diseases. So far there are relatively few of them, we are not yet in the best respiratory period. But it is a risky trend that is being drawn by unvaccinated people,” he said Friday.

There are still about 400,000 seniors who are neither vaccinated nor have a record of suffering covid. For all of them, treatment with monoclonal substances can ensure that they do not end up in a serious condition in the hospital.

Martin Malásek from Tišnov also took part in the infusion last week. Due to the number of illnesses, he did not want to underestimate the situation. In addition to obesity, he suffers from high blood pressure, asthma and diabetes. Despite all caution, he appears to have been infected by his son, who apparently picked up Covid from his classmates at school. Everyone is vaccinated.

“I knew I had the next day. The symptoms were immediate. It started with a toothache, then a runny nose, bronchus, and then a terrible headache, I thought I was jumping out the window. And I was vaccinated with with Pfizer in May, “Práva described as a forty – nine – year – old financial adviser.

High doses of painkillers did not help either. He went for a PCR test a few days later, received a positive result the next morning and everything took a quick turn. He had previously read about monoclonal antibodies that prevent the disease from developing severely. He warned his doctor about the positive result of the test and immediately asked for treatment.
“I called my district doctor and told her I wanted to write a request for drips in Boohunice. Within twenty-five minutes of the SMS with a positive result, I left in the direction of Brno,” he recalls.

He then spent about four hours in the hospital, and the infusion of antibody drugs alone took about an hour. “When I got home, I went to bed right away. I woke up in the morning and the terrible pain practically ended and I never returned,” praises Mr Malásek, who is only taking antibiotics. “The pain was the worst, otherwise everything could endure, cold and cough. It really helped a lot,” he adds.

But if he was uninformed and did not think of requesting treatment with monoclonal antibodies, he could end up in a difficult hospital condition in the ICU or worse.