AstraZeneca is working with the Ministry of Health to accelerate regulatory approval for its Evusheld COVID-19 vaccine. — Photo Courtesy AstraZeneca

HCM CITY — AstraZeneca is working with the Ministry of Health of Việt Nam to accelerate regulatory approval for its Evusheld long-acting COVID-19 antibody combination, Nitin Kapoor, the company’s chairman and general director for Việt Nam and Asia Area Frontier Markets, said.

Evusheld is a combination of two LAABs, tixagevimab and cilgavimab, derived from B-cells donated by convalescent patients who contracted the coronavirus. 

Evusheld got emergency use authorisation in the US in December 2021 for people aged 12 and above and weighing at least 40kg with moderately to severely compromised immunity who may not mount an adequate immune response to vaccination, and for those for whom COVID vaccination is not recommended.

Recently, AstraZeneca announced the US Department of Health and Human Services had finalised its agreement to purchase an additional one million doses of EvusheldTM, to be used for pre-exposure prophylaxis of COVID-19 in immunocompromised populations.

A number of studies showed that Evusheld retains neutralising activity against the Omicron variant and all tested SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern to date, the company said.

By combining two particularly potent antibodies with different and complementary activities against the virus, Evusheld was designed to evade potential resistance with the emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 variants. — VNS