DSHS: Monoclonal antibody treatments to be shipped to Texas this week

Published 4:10 pm Friday, January 21, 2022

The arrival of federally allocated monoclonal antibody treatments are still awaited in the area as more treatments are scheduled to be shipped across the state this week, officials say. 

Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced shipments of sotrovimab, the monoclonal antibody treatment effective against the omicron variant, to resume during the week of Jan. 4. It will deliver 55,000 doses, plus an additional 300,000 doses of sotrovimab are expected to be available for distribution this month.

As of Friday, none of the six local centers have the treatment available for patients to receive.

According to a Senior Press Officer at the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) Lara Anton, there have been small weekly allocations of monoclonal antibodies delivered to the state since mid-December.

Prior to that time, the allocation schedule was disbursing treatments every two weeks. Because sotrovimab is the only monoclonal antibody therapeutic that has shown to be effective against the dominant Omicron variant, it is in very high demand across the country, Anton said.

“Texas will receive 3,648 courses of sotrovimab this week. DSHS received requests for more than 35,000 courses from providers last week. Our understanding is that manufacturing constraints are the reason for the limited supply of sotrovimab,” said Anton.

She explained the disbursement of the monoclonal antibody treatments.

“The DSHS allocates a large portion of the state’s supply to the vendor that manages all of the DSHS regional infusion centers. They then send the appropriate amount of monoclonal antibodies to each regional infusion center based on the appointments that are scheduled at each location,” she said.

Anton clarified there are other options healthcare providers can offer to treat people who are at a higher risk for severe COVID-19 illness. Anyone at high risk should talk to their doctor about the best treatment options, such as oral antiviral medications.