Taiwan has taken delivery of another shipment of the Evusheld drug for immunocompromised people who are at high risk of contracting severe COVID-19, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said Thursday.
The shipment of 8,272 Evusheld doses arrived in Taiwan on Tuesday, and their safety and efficacy are now being medically evaluated, Lo Yi-chun (羅一鈞), head of the CECC’s Medical Response Division, said at a press briefing.
The government had placed a total order for 10,000 doses of Evusheld, a preventive antibody therapy that has shown neutralizing activity against the Omicron BA.2, BA.2.12.1, BA.4, and BA.5 subvariants of the COVID-19 virus and is authorized for emergency use, he said.
The first shipment of Evusheld to Taiwan, comprising 1,728 doses, was delivered on Sept. 6, and 431 doses have been administered to eligible recipients so far, according to Lo.
With the arrival of the 8,272 doses on Tuesday, Taiwan’s inventory is now 9,569 doses, he said.
Developed by AstraZeneca, the drug contains two monoclonal antibodies — tixagevimab (AZD8895) and cilgavimab (AZD1061).
At a separate event on Thursday, head of the Transplantation Society of Taiwan Wu Mai-szu (吳麥斯) said that some immunocompromised patients cannot produce sufficient antibodies even after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, and they have a higher risk of severe illness if they become infected.
For instance, clinical studies in other countries have shown that only 50 percent of patients with hematological cancers are able to produce antibody responses after COVID-19 vaccination, while among organ transplant patients, the ratio is 31 percent, he said.
According to the CECC, Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has included Evusheld as a recommended drug in its guidelines for clinical management of infection from SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
The Evusheld drug will be stocked at medical centers and some regional hospitals and prescribed for people with congenital immunodeficiencies and other eligible patients, the CDC said.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel