News Release

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) today unveiled an online calculator aimed at expanding access to monoclonal antibody treatment for COVID-19.

The calculator helps health administrators and clinicians determine and plan for resource needs to successfully ramp up treatment capacity or update existing practices. Monoclonal antibodies used to treat high-risk patients can significantly reduce the risk of hospitalization.

“While vaccines are playing a vital role in driving down cases, monoclonal antibodies continue to be critical tool for improving outcomes for people who become infected with SARS-COV-2,” said Dr. John Redd, ASPR’s chief medical officer. “Clinicians in every community need to be ready to identify, refer, and treat high-risk patients, and this calculator can help.”

The new calculator is easy to use by any type of facility and for any of the monoclonal antibody treatments currently authorized for emergency use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The calculator can help facilities and providers currently administering monoclonal antibodies and those that are not.

For facilities and providers not currently treating patients with monoclonal antibodies, the calculator serves as an important planning tool in preparing to respond to any potential increases in cases. For facilities and providers currently administering monoclonal antibody treatments, the calculator helps ensure staffing is not unnecessarily high or too low.

Dr. Redd added that “this tool can help facilities free up valuable nursing hours by showing the monoclonal antibody treatment support that can be done by other staff.”

In support of the COVID-19 pandemic response, HHS purchased monoclonal antibody treatments for distribution nationwide. To help health care professionals rapidly identify, refer and treat eligible patients, ASPR developed informational resources about the treatment, how to counsel patients, and how to plan for administration of the treatment. HHS also established “pop up” treatment centers across the country to improve access to treatment, particularly within communities disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. To date, over 500,000 monoclonal antibody treatments have been administered.

FDA recently expanded the EUAs for two of the monoclonal antibody therapeutics, allowing healthcare providers to connect more patients to monoclonal antibody treatments based on the provider’s own clinical judgment. In recently updated Fact Sheets for Health Care Providers (casirivimab/imdevimab and bamlanivimab/etesevimab), FDA provided more details on patient eligibility.

The FDA recently authorized subcutaneous injection administration of one monoclonal antibody therapeutic, casirivimab/imdevimab, in cases where administration by infusion could lead to a delay in treatment. The calculator tool is not intended for use in determining the resources needed for the injected treatments.

By helping health care providers shore up the ability to offer treatment via infusion, the calculator tool can help ensure that patients can access treatment, regardless of patient circumstances.

About HHS and ASPR

HHS works to enhance and protect the health and well-being of all Americans, providing for effective health and human services and fostering advances in medicine, public health, and social services. The mission of ASPR is to save lives and protect the American people from 21st century health security threats.

# # #