RELATED: Thousands of appointments canceled in Florida after FDA halts use of certain COVID-19 antibody drugsThe regulatory move was expected because both drugmakers had said the infusion drugs are less able to target omicron due to its mutations.
Still, the federal action could trigger pushback from some Republican governors who have continued promoting the drugs against the advice of health experts.Omicron’s resistance to the two leading monoclonal antibody medicines has upended the treatment playbook for COVID-19 in recent weeks.Doctors have alternate therapies to battle early COVID-19 cases, including two new antiviral pills from Pfizer and Merck, but both are in short supply.
An antibody drug from GlaxoSmithKline that remains effective also is in short supply.Inside a monoclonal antibody treatment site in Tampa. (Fla.
DOH photo) The drugs are laboratory-made versions of virus-blocking antibodies. They are intended to head off severe disease and death by supplying concentrated doses of one or two antibodies early in an infection.