Vol.71 No.6 November 2023
Rapid pharmacist-led system for administering tixagevimab-cilgavimab to suppress the onset of COVID-19
1)Department of Pharmacy, Toranomon Hospital, 2-2-2 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan
2)Infection Control Team, Toranomon Hospital
3)Department of Hematology, Toranomon Hospital
4)Department of Infectious Diseases, Toranomon Hospital
Abstract
Tixagevimab-cilgavimab is a long-acting antibody derived from B cells processed from the blood of patients who have recovered from SARS-CoV-2 infection, that is for the treatment and prevention of COVID-19.
This drug was approved in Japan in August 2022. Until now, this drug was owned by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and was supplied only for the purpose of preventing the onset of symptoms. Toranomon Hospital has many immunocompromised patients, especially patients with hematological malignancies. Therefore, it is conceivable that many patients at the hospital would be eligible to receive this drug.
In order to facilitate the selection of target patients, ordering, and reporting of the results observed after administration of the drug, a pharmacist in the infection control team played a leading role in establishing a series of procedures. As of February 2023, 352 patients (149 inpatients and 203 outpatients) had received this drug. It is estimated that as of November-December 2022, patients of our hospital accounted for 11.5-13.6% of the total number of patients administered this treatment in Tokyo. A large number of patients were given the drug quickly and safety, and this project is expected to be useful for future use of the new drug.
Key word
COVID-19, tixagevimab, cilgavimab, neutralizing antibodies
Received
April 5, 2023
Accepted
July 14, 2023
Jpn. J. Chemother. 71 (6): 571-575, 2023
