Monoclonal antibody treatment: Florida shuts down all sites after FDA
Omicron accounted for more than 99% of Covid-19 cases in the US as of January 15, the FDA said, noting restricting the authorization for treatments that aren’t effective against the variant “avoids exposing patients to side effects … which can be potentially serious.”
DeSantis has made monoclonal antibodies a cornerstone of his response to surges of coronavirus cases, often pushing the treatment more vigorously than vaccines.
Last summer, he introduced new clinics where individuals could receive the treatment at the onset of symptoms or exposure to someone with Covid-19.
GlaxoSmithKline’s monoclonal antibody, sotrovimab, is the only version of the treatment that appears to work against Omicron, the FDA said last month.
At the time, the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response and the FDA paused allocations of the Eli Lilly and Regeneron monoclonal antibodies, but said 300,000 additional doses of sotrovimab would be made available in January.
CNN’s Steve Contorno contributed to this report.
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