Regeneron’s just-approved COVID-19 treatment — which President Trump took to combat the virus — will be distributed to states starting Tuesday, US officials said.
The first shipments will involve a total of 30,000 doses of the drugmaker’s antibody therapy that the government has already bought, according to the federal Department of Health and Human Services.
The US Food and Drug Administration announced Saturday that it had OK’d the treatment under an emergency approval process amid the pandemic.
Still, the therapy has only been approved so far “for the treatment of mild to moderate” patients 12 years and older and at least 88 pounds “who are at high risk of progressing to severe COVID-19,” the FDA said.
Trump underwent the infusion treatment when he contracted the virus last month.
HHS Secretary Alex Azar said in a call with reporters Monday that shipments would start Tuesday — and head first to states with the worst infection rates.
“Beginning immediately, weekly allocations to state and territorial health departments will be proportionally based on confirmed COVID-19 cases in each state and territory over the previous seven days, based on data hospitals and state health departments enter into the HHS Protect data collection platform,” his agency said in a statement.
