With coronavirus mutations splintering like shrapnel, some COVID-19 treatments are facing decreased efficacy — but the decision to pull a therapy off the market can get murky, The Atlantic reported Oct. 29.
FDA data shows that AstraZeneca's Evusheld is waning in efficacy. The drug is the only treatment that's authorized for immunocompromised people and for those who cannot be vaccinated because of a history of severe allergic reactions. In response to the mutating virus, the FDA has consistently modified Evusheld's emergency use authorization to update the treatment's dosage.
If a medication dramatically falls in popularity, drugmakers usually decide to halt production and stop selling it. Unless a drug is recalled, though, it's up to each hospital, pharmacy and medical center how much of a product they stock, prescribe and distribute.
Multiple subvariants — BQ.1, BQ.1.1, BA.4.6, BA.2.75.2, BF.7 and XBB — might be resistant to the Evusheld. The CDC does not yet publish data on XBB, a newer subvariant, but the six other subvariants currently account for 45.4 percent of U.S. infections.
"It seems like the writing is on the wall," Erin McCreary, PharmD, an infectious disease pharmacist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center," told The Atlantic. "I live constantly low-key worried that I'm not going to have an active therapy for my patients, and I won't be able to help them."