Biden moves to stave off shortage of COVID-19 therapy

The Biden administration moved this week to stave off a shortage of monoclonal antibodies, taking over distribution of the critical COVID19 therapy while it tries to purchase more.

The policy change that went into effect Monday is all but certain to result in cuts of the medication to some states, especially seven in the Deep South with high infection rates that have been using about 70% of the national supply.

Soaring demand for the therapy represents a sharp turn from just two months ago, when monoclonal antibodies were widely available and awareness of them was low. With little promotion by the government, consumers, doctors and states were using just a tiny fraction of the available supply.

Since then, however, word of the highly effective therapy — which is free to patients — has spread, with federal officials and Republican lawmakers including Florida Gov. Ron Desantis urging their use. Now, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will, at least temporarily, set the rules for distribution of monoclonal antibodies instead of allowing states, medical facilities and doctors to order them directly.

“HHS will determine the amount

of product each state and territory receives on a weekly basis. State and territorial health departments will subsequently identify sites that will receive product and how much,” an HHS spokesman said. He spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe new procedures that are still being explained to communities around the country.

“This system will help maintain equitable distribution, both geographically and temporally, across the country, providing states and territories with consistent, fairly-distributed supply over the coming weeks,” he added.

The move already has prompted concern in one state, Alabama, where the president of the state medical association, Aruna Arora, released a statement Monday saying that “Alabama’s hospitals are full and under tremendous stress. That’s why physicians are very concerned about federal efforts that will end up limiting our supply and access to this effective treatment.”

Alabama, Florida, Texas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia and Louisiana — all states where vaccination rates are low and the delta variant of the virus has been surging in recent months — have been using 70% of the monoclonal antibody supply in recent weeks, according to HHS data distributed at a meeting Friday and a person familiar with the situation.

CURTIS COMPTON/CURTIS.COMPTON@AJC.COM Nurse Dena Pollard begins monoclonal antibody infusion therapy on COVID-19 patient Annessa Lynn Hocker at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital (North Campus) last month. Soaring demand for the therapy represents a sharp turn from just two months ago.