AstraZeneca’s Evusheld Covid-prevention drug gets UK approval

theguardian.com:

AstraZeneca has received UK regulatory approval for its long-acting Covid-19 antibody treatment Evusheld in a boost to its coronavirus portfolio as the British-Swedish drugmaker targets greater drug development success at its new £1bn research lab in Cambridge.

Aimed at preventing Covid infections in people with poor immune systems who cannot be vaccinated, Evusheld is already approved in the US and other countries, and the US government has ordered 1.7m doses.

Evusheld was found to cut the risk of developing symptomatic Covid-19 by 77% in trials, with protection lasting for at least six months after a single dose, the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said. AstraZeneca said a lab study showed the drug works against the Omicron variant, but the MHRA said there was insufficient data to fully evaluate this.

Revenue growth from Evusheld this year is expected to offset weaker sales of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine, developed with Oxford University, which brought in nearly £3bn last year, after the firm moved away from its not-for-profit pricing.

AstraZeneca, Britain’s biggest pharmaceutical company, wants to make a success of its new vaccines and antibody therapies division, which includes Evusheld, and insists that it is not trying to hive off the Covid vaccine.

Sir Mene Pangalos, a British neuroscientist and AstraZeneca’s executive vice-president of biopharmaceuticals research & development, rejected suggestions that the firm might want to offload its Covid shot to another company, even though sales are projected to fall this year.

“It’s still the most widely used vaccine in the world and will continue to be a globally used vaccine, particularly in low- to middle income countries where supply chains are