Alberta shelves preventative COVID-19 therapy, Evusheld, as resistant variants take hold
CBC
Alberta is no longer recommending Evusheld, a preventative COVID-19 therapy, because it does not work against the latest subvariants to take hold in the province.
Evusheld has been offered to immunocompromised Albertans, including transplant patients and people undergoing some types of cancer treatment, since last May.
On Thursday, U.S. Food and Drug Administration removed its authorization for Evusheld, saying it's unlikely to be effective against the newest strains, including XBB.1.5.
"With these newer subvariants, it just has no effect. It's hard to justify," said Dr. Alain Tremblay, a Calgary-based respirologist and member of a committee advising public health officials on COVID-19 therapies.
"Unfortunately for preventative [therapy] — for people who can't [be immunized] or don't respond to the vaccine — right now we're losing something and we don't have an alternative," he said.
Alberta Health Services updated its website Monday afternoon to reflect the change.
"Evusheld is now shown to be ineffective against the latest variant of COVID-19," spokesperson Kerry Williamson said in an email to CBC News.
"Alberta's decision is consistent with other provinces including Ontario, B.C. and Quebec. Clinicians can consider administering Evusheld on case-by-case basis."
Tremblay said it's the latest monoclonal antibody drug to drop off as SARS-CoV-2 evolves. Sotrovimab was deemed ineffective last year.
"It's concerning because we know that there's a reasonable amount of COVID going around in the community. ... So there is a portion of the population that are immunocompromised that are losing an option to protect themselves."
According to Alberta Health, Evusheld has been prescribed to 1,430 Albertans since it became available in the province in May.
"[With] the majority of the lineages that we have circulating right now — the BQs and the XBB.1.5 — there's no benefit of Evusheld against those dominant strains. And so using it right now actually doesn't make that much sense," said Dr. Lynora Saxinger, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Alberta
"The decision affects a fairly small group of people. But at the same time, it's a group of people that we are paying a lot of attention to because they are at higher risk of severe disease."
Health Canada issued a risk communication for health-care providers earlier this month but it has stopped short of shelving Evusheld altogether.
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