UPMC and Heritage Valley Health System are partnering to make an outpatient COVID-19 treatment more widely available in western Pennsylvania.

Monoclonal antibody treatment reduces the risk of death and the need for hospitalization in people who receive it soon after being diagnosed with COVID-19.

The health systems will pool its supply of monoclonal antibodies and use the extensive UPMC network of infusion centers to provide Heritage Valley patients with the treatment.

Monoclonal antibodies are a type of medication that seeks out the COVID-19 virus in a person's body and blocks it from infecting their cells and replicating.

The treatment is given through a one-time intravenous infusion, usually at an outpatient infusion center.

Patients currently eligible for the treatment are those at a higher risk of a poor outcome from COVID-19, including people 65 or older, those who are obese or those with conditions such as diabetes or lung disease.

Younger adults and children over 12 with certain conditions, including asthma, also may be eligible.

UPMC has treated nearly 2,400 patients at 18 infusion centers across Pennsylvania and in New York and Maryland.

The treatment also is offered to homebound people through a home-infusion service, and in emergency departments, nursing homes and behavioral health centers in the UPMC system.

Heritage Valley is supplying UPMC with its allotment of monoclonal antibodies from the federal government and will refer qualifying patients to UPMC infusion centers, although the patients will remain under the care of their Heritage Valley physicians.

The U.S. supply of monoclonal antibodies is taxpayer-funded, and the medication is given without charge to the institutions that administer it.

Currently, UPMC Health Plan waives copayments and deductibles for administering the treatment.

Patients and providers can find out more about monoclonal antibody treatment by visiting upmc.com/AntibodyTreatment or by calling 866-804-5251.

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