COVID-19 sufferers can reduce their risk of hospitalization and death by up to 85 percent if they receive monoclonal antibody treatments in the early stages of their illness, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday.

The White House chief medical adviser said that using the lab-made antibodies to fight the virus before a patient is hospitalized can prevent the chances of severe illness by between 70 and 85 percent.

“It is important to emphasize that this must be done early in infection and not wait, of course, until a person is sick enough to be hospitalized,” Fauci said at a COVID-19 press briefing.

“That’s when you get the best effect. And again, being an underutilized intervention, we want people out there, including physicians as well as potential patients, to realize the advantage of this very effective way of treating early infection.”

Fauci said the treatment could significantly benefit certain at-risk groups, such as those over the age of 65, pregnant women and people with compromised immune systems.

“Bottom line is this is a very effective intervention for COVID-19. It is underutilized, and we recommend strongly that we utilize this to its fullest,” Fauci said.