CHI Health will start using a new antibody drug this week to help combat COVID-19.
Starting Friday, qualified, physician-referred patients can receive infusions of Bamlanivimab, an antibody drug used to treat COVID-19. The FDA authorized the drug for emergency use earlier this month.
CHI Health’s supply is from the federal government, which was then allocated by the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. The 14-hospital system has enough supply for 344 infusions across its Nebraska hospital locations, and 39 doses for patients in Iowa. Critical access hospitals will also have access to this supply.
Qualifications for the emergency use drug include testing positive for COVID-19, being at high risk for hospitalization, and a physician's referral. The patient also must consent to the treatment.
In the Omaha-metro, CHI Health Midlands will serve as CHI Health’s infusion area and will be open eight hours a day, seven days a week starting Friday. Additional infusion sites will be designated at hospital locations in Council Bluffs, Lincoln, Grand Island, Kearney, and other critical-access locations.