Evusheld: Government is urged to expedite covid antibody treatment for vulnerable patients

The UK government has been urged to re-examine its decision not to purchase a new covid-19 antibody drug for clinically extremely vulnerable people, amid warnings that these patients face renewed risk from the disease this winter.

Evusheld, manufactured by AstraZeneca, is a combination of two long acting antibodies, tixagevimab and cilgavimab. It is given as two separate, sequential intramuscular injections and can be administered in the community, unlike some other monoclonal antibodies, which are given by intravenous infusion in hospital.

Evusheld was approved for use in the UK in March 2022 by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency after trial results showed that it reduced the risk of developing symptomatic covid-19 by 77%, with protection lasting at least six months after a single dose.12 But in August the government said it will not purchase the treatment yet because of “insufficient data” on the duration of protection it provides against omicron and its subvariants.3 This remains its position.

Evusheld is currently being submitted for approval by the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence. But, because this process is not due to conclude until well into 2023, clinicians and patients have warned that people who …