Greece begins monoclonal antibody treatment for Covid-19 across 10 hospitals

Greece's Ministries of Health and of Digital Governance announced on Thursday that ten hospitals will begin administering the 2,000 doses of monoclonal antibodies in the treatment of Covid-19.

The monoclonal antibodies will be administered to high-risk Covid-19 patients who belong in vulnerable groups. Hospitals included are two public ones in Athens (Sotiria, Sismanoglio), two in Thessaloniki (Ahepa, Papageorgiou), and the general hospitals of Alexandroupolis, Heraklion, Ioannina, Larissa, Lamia and Patras-Rio.

Doctors will be able to prescribe the therapy and initiate the application process. Patients must be aged 12 or over, and they must have been confirmed coronavirus-positive with a PCR test over the last 5 days.

The 2,000 doses of monoclonal antibodies arrived in Greece early November and were delivered to the Pharmaceutical Research and Technology Institute.

Greece is participating in an EU program for the supply of monoclonal antibody treatments for patients Covid-19. The antibodies will be offered to patients at public hospitals on the basis of specific medical criteria, which the expert panel of infectious disease experts is currently examining.

Monoclonal antibodies are proteins made in a lab that mimic the immune system’s ability to fight the coronavirus.

Procedures are underway to also procure the anti-viral pills developed by Merck. However, scientists warned that the existence of good and effective treatments does not eliminate the need for vaccination.