FDA Pulls Authorization for Evusheld, Says It’s Ineffective Against New COVID Mutations
Evusheld has become the latest COVID-19 antibody drug to lose federal authorization after it was deemed ineffective against the dominant versions of the virus.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday withdrew its emergency use authorization for Evusheld, a two-dose cocktail of monoclonal antibodies meant to provide protection to those who have a compromised immune system that makes them more vulnerable to severe COVID-19 infection than others.
Monoclonal antibodies are laboratory-made proteins that mimic the immune system’s ability to fight off harmful pathogens such as viruses, the FDA explained in the announcement of the changes. This means that as viruses mutate over time, antibody treatments may be rendered useless by the mutations the virus has picked up….