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Topic subjectPharma AstraZeneca's Evusheld approved
Topic URLhttp://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=4&topic_id=13439076&mesg_id=13449674
13449674, Pharma AstraZeneca's Evusheld approved
Posted by handle, Fri Dec-10-21 10:19 AM
Not the virus replication prevention pill, but another prophylactic treatment:

https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/astrazeneca-scores-approval-for-its-covid-19-antibody-cocktail-a-substitute-for-vaccination

With the FDA’s emergency use authorization today of AstraZeneca’s long-acting antibody cocktail, the roughly 2% of U.S. residents who are immunocompromised will have a treatment that provides protection comparable to what healthy people receive from COVID-19 vaccines.

Those 12 and older weighing at least 88 pounds will be eligible for Evusheld, which is a combination of two monoclonal antibodies (tixagevimab and cilgavimab) developed at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center. A dose of Evusheld provides protection for six months.

Evusheld is not approved for those who are infected or those who have been recently exposed to the virus. It also is not to be used as a substitute for vaccination among those who are recommended to be vaccinated.

Eligible to receive the intramuscular injections—which are given in succession—are those with moderate to severely compromised immune systems due to a medical condition or taking immunosuppressive medications. Also eligible are those with a history of severe adverse reactions to COVID-19 vaccines.

While vaccines depend on intact immune systems to generate neutralizing antibodies and infection-fighting cells, AZ’s therapy depends on lab-made antibodies that remain in the body for months.