Meta-Analysis
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Virol. Mar 25, 2024; 13(1): 88660
Published online Mar 25, 2024. doi: 10.5501/wjv.v13.i1.88660
Efficacy and safety of bamlanivimab in patients with COVID-19: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Behnam Amani, Lida Khodavirdilou, Kourosh Rajabkhah, Vida Kardan Moghaddam, Arash Akbarzadeh, Bahman Amani
Behnam Amani, Bahman Amani, Department of Health Management and Economics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran 1416634793, Iran
Lida Khodavirdilou, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Jerry H. Hodge School of Pharmacy, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Amarillo, TX 79106, United States
Kourosh Rajabkhah, Deputy of Research and Technology, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran 1416634793, Iran
Vida Kardan Moghaddam, School of Medicine and Dentistry, Griffith University, Queensland, Brisbane 4222, Australia
Arash Akbarzadeh, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran 1416634793, Iran
Author contributions: Amani B designed and administrated the study, and drafted the manuscript; Khodavirdilou L and Kardan Moghaddam V carried out the literature search; Kardan Moghaddam V and Akbarzadeh A performed the data extraction; Rajabkhah K and Kardan Moghaddam V were involved in assessing the quality of studies; Amani B and Akbarzadeh A performed the data analysis; Amani B and Khodavirdilou L performed the writing, review & editing; and all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors declare that they have no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Bahman Amani, MSc, Researcher, Department of Health Management and Economics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Qods Street, Keshavarz Blvd, Tehran 1416634793, Iran. b89amani@yahoo.com
Received: October 4, 2023
Peer-review started: October 4, 2023
First decision: October 9, 2023
Revised: November 9, 2023
Accepted: December 29, 2023
Article in press: December 29, 2023
Published online: March 25, 2024
Processing time: 159 Days and 8.1 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have shown clinical benefits against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Several studies have reported the use of bamlanivimab as a promising treatment option for COVID-19.

AIM

To synthesize the latest evidence for the efficacy and safety of bamlanivimab alone in the treatment of adult patients with COVID-19.

METHODS

A literature search was conducted in PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, medRxiv, and Google Scholar using “SARS-CoV-2”, “COVID-19”, “LY-CoV555”, and “Bamlanivimab” keywords up to January 25, 2023. The quality of included studies was assessed using the Cochrane bias tools. The Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software version 3.0 was used to analyze the data.

RESULTS

A total of 30 studies involving 47368 patients were included. A significant difference was observed between the bamlanivimab and standard of care/placebo groups in terms of mortality rate [risk ratio (RR) = 50, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.36-0.70], hospitalization rate (RR = 0.51; 95%CI: 0.39-0.68), and emergency department (ED) visits (RR = 0.69; 95%CI: 0.47-0.99); while the two groups exhibited no significant difference in terms of intensive care unit (ICU) admission (P > 0.05). Compared to other mAbs, bamlanivimab was associated with a higher rate of hospitalization (RR = 1.44; 95%CI: 1.07-1.94). However, no significant difference was detected between the bamlanivimab and other mAbs groups in terms of mortality rate, ICU admission, and ED (P > 0.05). The incidence of any adverse events was similar between the bamlanivimab and control groups (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Although the results suggest the efficacy and safety of bamlanivimab in COVID-19 patients, further research is required to confirm the efficacy of this drug for the current circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19; Bamlanivimab; Monoclonal antibody; Meta-analysis

Core Tip: The present study is the most comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis on the efficacy and safety of bamlanivimab in the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). A significant difference was observed between the bamlanivimab and standard of care/placebo groups in terms of mortality rate, hospitalization rate, and emergency department visits. While the two groups exhibited no significant difference in terms of intensive care unit admission. The present results suggested that bamlanivimab might be effective and safe for the treatment of COVID-19.