Federal Agency Warns: No COVID-19 ‘Pre-Exposure’ Drugs Are Currently Authorized in US
The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) on Monday advised that people who are immunocompromised should take precautions after a COVID-19 treatment’s emergency use authorization was withdrawn last week, noting that there is currently no pre-exposure prophylaxis authorized for COVID-19.
In a revised statement published on Jan. 30, the agency said that “there is no authorized or approved agent for use as PrEP of COVID-19” after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) pulled authorization for Evusheld, an AstraZeneca-made combination of tixagevimab plus cilgavimab that was given to people with weak immune systems.
A PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, is a medication that is used to prevent an individual from contracting a virus, such as COVID-19 or HIV, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The term generally referred to the use of antiviral drugs as a tactic to prevent HIV and AIDS….