MUSC holds outpatient trials for possible COVID-19 antibody treatment

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - The second phase of research for a possible COVID-19 antibody treatment is happening at the Medical University of South Carolina.

Through a competitive process, officials say they won the chance to be part of the study. According to the trial website, MUSC is the only participating site in South Carolina.

The study will test an infusion of antibodies to see whether or not it may help a person recover from the COVID-19 virus.

Dr. Eric Meissner, an assistant professor at MUSC, says participants in the trial will either receive an antibody treatment or a placebo treatment.

Experts conducting the trial will then monitor those participants over time and see what impact the treatment has on the virus and how they’re feeling.

“This is a trial for people who have already gotten the infection to give them extra antibodies to hopefully give their systems a boost early during that fight with the infection, with the hopes that it will make them get better more quickly,” Meissner said.

This national clinical trial seeks to enroll about 300 people at multiple sites across the country.

MUSC is hoping to enroll at least 10 people, with the potential to enroll more.

"The goal would be to prevent [patients] from having to become inpatients and having to become hospitalized,"said Amanda Cameron, a trial innovation network program manager at MUSC. "This a great opportunity for us to catch patients earlier on and to treat outpatients as they are still recovering at home in their own bed."

People thinking of enrolling in this trial have to have tested positive with the virus within 72 hours and symptoms have to be fewer than seven days.

For more information or to get involved, contact Angela Millare at (843) 792-3710 or email millare@musc.edu.

Copyright 2020 WCSC. All rights reserved.