U.S. doctors prescribed more than 150,000 doses of useless monoclonal antibodies for COVID-19 to patients earlier this year, spending huge sums on a therapy that was found to be useless, according to a new study published in the journal JAMA Network Open. In January, the FDA rescinded approval for two monoclonal antibodies to treat COVID-19 after the drugs were found not to work against the omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2. Despite this, COVID-19 patients received more than 158,000 doses of bamlanivimab/etsevimab and casirivimab/imdevimab through 2022, potentially costing millions of dollars and bringing little relief, according to a study conducted by scientists at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. The percentage of COVID-19 cases in which unapproved treatments were used peaked only in late March, weeks after the Administration banned their use, the researchers found. In early 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the emergency use of two monoclonal antibody-based drugs aimed at preventing severe COVID-19 in infected patients who were at high risk of hospitalization and death. But when the Omicron strain emerged in the United States last December, it caused a record surge in COVID-19, and it was quickly found to bypass existing monoclonal antibody treatments. For the study, scientists tracked the use of monoclonal antibodies through public reports that hospitals submit to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Use of monoclonal antibodies after the waiver was lifted varied widely among states, with Florida and New York accounting for 24% and 20% of the doses prescribed, respectively. Eleven states used more than half of the remaining stock after deauthorization, while 14 states used less than 10% of the remaining stock, the researchers found.