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Preventing COVID-19: UCHealth Asking People Exposed To Virus To Try Regeneron Antibody Treatment

AURORA, Colo. (CBS4) – UCHealth is recruiting people living with someone who has been recently diagnosed with COVID-19 to try an anti-viral antibody cocktail designed to prevent and treat the virus.

Regeneron
(credit: Regeneron)

University of Colorado Hospital on the Anschutz Medical Campus will study whether the Regeneron antibody treatment (REGN-COV2) may prevent infection in people who have had close exposure to someone diagnosed with COVID-19.

It's the same treatment President Donald Trump received at Walter Reed Medical Center when he tested positive.

"They gave me Regeneron and it was like unbelievable," Pres. Trump state. "I felt good immediately."

The president got the cocktail under what's called "compassionate use," but right now it is investigational.

"It's only available through clinical trials so we have a chance to really evaluate if it works," said Dr. Brian Montague, an infectious disease physician, who is leading one of those clinical trials.

University of Colorado Hospital is part of a multi-site trial recruiting 1,700 people who are living with someone just diagnosed with COVID- 19. Half will get the antibody injection, half will get a placebo.

A second group will consist of 300 people.

"If you give that treatment in advance and they continue living with somebody who is positive and may be shedding the virus, does that protect them and maybe keep them from becoming infected in the first place?" Montague said.

The study will also include 300 people in a similar situation who test positive but are not sick.

"If you give the antibody cocktail to those people, do you keep those people from becoming severely ill?"

The hope is that the Regeneron cocktail could eventually be given to high risk people and people on the front lines for prevention.

"Potential participants need to be enrolled within 96 hours of the collection of the positive test, so if people are interested they need to be in touch right away," Montague stated.

Eligible participants for the Regeneron study are adults living with an adult or child diagnosed with COVID-19 who are not sick enough to be in the hospital, but are recuperating at home and quarantined with the illness.

Those interested in the study can be screened rapidly using the online screening resource here. Participants will be compensated for their time and travel.

Interested persons can also contact the study team during regular business hours (Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.) at 720-335-5205, or email cucovidantibodystudy@gmail.com.

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