The local fight against coronavirus could soon get a booster shot — literally.
ProMedica health system is cooperating with pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly & Co. to test a new infusion treatment meant to guard the most vulnerable population — residents at nursing or assisted living facilities — from coronavirus by pumping their system full of antibodies.
The BLAZE-2 Study, as it’s called, is currently under way at ProMedica facilities in California and Illinois and a third facility in Ohio is expected to enroll later this week. But given northwest Ohio’s infection rates, it’s only a matter of time before the trial comes to Toledo, said Dr. Mark Gloth, ProMedica Senior Care’s chief medical officer.
Lucas County reported 69 new infections Friday and 229 new cases this week, while Wood County logged 21 new cases Friday.
A small percentage of those Lucas County cases came from nursing homes, which reported 26 new resident infections and 31 staff infections this week, according to data released by the state on Wednesday. Wood County facilities reported two new residents and 14 staff.
Lucas County also is third in the state for nursing home deaths, behind Franklin and Cuyahoga counties, and remains “red” — Level 3 — in Ohio’s four-stage public health advisory system. Wood County is at Level 2.
“Given the way this disease spreads and given the uptick we’ve seen in the number of cases in Lucas County and the Toledo market, we anticipate at some point we may see one,” Dr. Gloth said. “We’re doing regular testing in those facilities.”
Facilities are eligible to join the trial only if they report a new exposure, meaning they’ve never had a positive case prior or have gone 14 days without a new infection, he said. Then staff and residents can volunteer to participate, though because the study is double-blind, they won’t know if they’re receiving the antibodies or the placebo.
How does it work?
Antibodies are protective proteins made by the body’s immune system to fight viruses, bacteria, and other foreign substances, and they’ve been used in medicine to successfully treat cancers and autoimmune disorders.
Eli Lilly is applying the same concept to treating coronavirus by supplying individuals with the needed protection to ward off the virus before they’re even infected, to either prevent future infection or lessen symptoms’ severity should they get sick. The antibodies are replicated from a patient who previously recovered from the virus.
It could be a quick fix to protect elderly patients now, until a vaccine is available, and serves as both offense and defense against coronavirus, Dr. Gloth said.
“The idea of a vaccine is it stimulates your body to produce antibodies to help fight the virus. The problem with the vaccine is that it can take weeks to develop the antibodies. Even in flu season, it really takes about two weeks for that to develop enough antibodies for you to be considered protected ... so vaccines have a delay,” Dr. Gloth said.
That delay has proven to be deadly for vulnerable populations, especially the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions. An infusion would eliminate the lag time, he said.
“Where a vaccine takes seconds to get the injection, it can take weeks for it to be effective. An antibody infusion takes about a hour to get the infusion, but it is thought to be effective almost immediately,” Dr. Gloth said.
The antibodies also would be faster to mass produce, Eli Lilly said.
“Antibody drugs could yield available doses sooner than vaccines and curb the pandemic until vaccines are available and produced at large scale,” the company said in its brochure on the study.
To complete the study, the company aims to test the treatment on 2,400 volunteers. Currently, ProMedica’s two active facilities have enrolled about 50 participants, including Dr. Gloth, and other health providers have joined in.
“It’s the most incredibly patriotic thing we could be doing at this point, to be engaged in something like this, because it will not only help our population and our employees but has the potential of helping our nation,” Dr. Gloth said. “Even if this isn’t the answer, it helps get us one step closer.”
Lucas County’s new cases brought its coronavirus total to 5,819, of which 5,616 have been confirmed, and one new death to 332 deaths. Wood County has 1,207 cases, with deaths remaining unchanged at 63.
Ohio added 1,043 new infections on Friday, just one more than the 21-day average, for a new total of 113,046. Deaths, hospitalizations, and intensive-care unit admissions, all of which can lag new infections by weeks, came in above their three-week averages.
Sixty-three more people were reported as having died for a new total of 3,955. There were 104 new hospitalizations and 20 ICU admissions.
First Published August 22, 2020, 1:00 p.m.
