Infectious Disease Society of America Webcast Discusses Available COVID-19 Treatments

The Infectious Disease Society of America held a webcast on the current available treatment options for COVID-19 on the morning of November 23, 2020. During the week of Thanksgiving, as many continue to plan to travel or to host dinners on Thursday with many guests, the priority guidance from the participants was to continue with the safety measures that have helped people remain safe since the pandemic’s start in the United States: social distance, wash hands, use a mask, and reduce exposure to others.

The discussion on treatment began with discussing monoclonal antibodies, which have become a hot topic in COVID-19 treatment following the emergency use authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration for casirivimab and imdevimab over the weekend. Adarsh Bhimraj, MD, FIDSA, associate staff physician in the Department of Infectious Diseases at the Cleveland Clinic, in Ohio, and Rajesh T. Gandhi, MD, FIDSA, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, both highlighted that the data for the efficacy of monoclonal antibodies are still in the early days of study, but the information coming in from the early studies appears to be positive. Gandhi also stressed that as of right now, only dexamethasone has been shown to improve survival.

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