MURRAY, Utah — As COVID-19 surges again across the country, researchers at Intermountain Healthcare have discovered a treatment that reduces severe illness and hospitalization.

Since December, they’ve been successfully treating high-risk patients with monoclonal antibodies.

Intermountain doctors discovered that treating those patients with monoclonal antibodies reduced severe illness and hospitalizations by more than 50 percent. It also saved many patients from dying due to complications from the virus.

“These products are most effective when targeted early in the course,” said Dr. Brandon Webb, an infectious diseases physician, and the chair of the COVID therapeutics committee at Intermountain Healthcare.

Monoclonal antibodies are an infusion-based treatment given to patients before hospitalization, he said, adding that they’re designed to stick to and neutralize the virus.

“They are patterned after the body’s natural response to viruses, and they work best when given very early on in the symptom course, when the active virus is at its greatest,” Webb said.

Webb said that’s within seven days of the onset symptoms. 

“Taken in the context of the current pandemic, these results are very encouraging,” the doctor said. “They emphasize that these truly are an important tool for treating patients early on, as soon after their symptoms start.”

That’s why, he said, getting tested when you have COVID symptoms is still so important.

The Intermountain Healthcare study, published in Open Forum Infectious Diseases, gave monoclonal antibody treatments to 600 patients, and compared them to a control group of several thousand patients.

Only one percent had an infusion-related reaction, of which the vast majority were minor.

Even more encouraging, Webb said, is the treatment kept high-risk patients out of the hospital.

Patients who already have COVID-19 antibodies are less likely to benefit.

“Patients who are unvaccinated, who are at high risk, and who are very early in the course are the patients who are most likely to get maximum benefit from monoclonal therapy,” Webb said.

The infectious diseases physician pointed out that vaccination is still the most effective tool against COVID-19.

With the delta variant surge going on, researchers said more resources are needed to expand treatment for high-risk patients.