The new EvuSheld prophylactic treatment to prevent severe COVID infection in people at high risk of complications is now available free of charge in Quebec.
The Ministry of Health and Social Services announced Monday that 6465 doses of this new monoclonal antibody, developed by the manufacturer AstraZeneca, are now available to a well-defined category of people.
This preventive treatment, and not curative like Paxlovid, aims to strengthen the immune system of people in whom the vaccine proves to be less effective in developing immunity against COVID or in patients with specific risk factors.
This antibody treatment consists of two intramuscular injections into the gluteal muscles, thus providing increased protection for at least six months to people at risk of developing a severe form of the disease. A doctor, nurse or pharmacist can assess whether a patient requires this treatment, which will then be administered by a nurse in a pharmacy, medical clinic or health facility.
Only severely immunocompromised patients will have access to it, regardless of their vaccination status. In particular those whose natural defenses are weakened following an organ transplant, active treatments against cancer or taking high doses of cortisone and other agents used to treat rheumatological diseases.
This new prophylactic treatment, approved by Health Canada on April 14, had received emergency authorization from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States in December 2021.
After the arrival of Omicron, the manufacturer adjusted the planned initial dosage last February to make this treatment more effective against Omicron, in particular against the BA.2 sub-variant.
According to the most recent published studies, this treatment reduced the risk of symptomatic infection by 77% in patients who received it (3441) for at least six months, while two deaths and five serious or critical infections were recorded in the placebo group (1731).