FDA cuts off use of GSK's Covid treat­ment in al­most half of the US as BA.2 spreads

With the rise of the Omi­cron sis­ter vari­ant BA.2, Glax­o­SmithK­line and Vir Biotech­nol­o­gy’s cru­cial mon­o­clon­al an­ti­body — one of on­ly two mAbs still be­ing shipped by the US gov­ern­ment to states to treat Covid-19 — has fi­nal­ly met its match, and al­most half of all US states have now lost ac­cess to the cru­cial mAb as it’s not as ef­fec­tive against the new strain.

AS­PR on Fri­day said it paused dis­tri­b­u­tion of GSK and Vir’s sotro­vimab to six states across the Mid­west (Illi­nois, In­di­ana, Michi­gan, Min­neso­ta, Ohio and Wis­con­sin), and eight states in the West (Ari­zona, Cal­i­for­nia, Hawaii, Neva­da, Alas­ka, Ida­ho, Ore­gon and Wash­ing­ton), as well as five ter­ri­to­ries — the Com­mon­wealth of the North­ern Mar­i­ana, Guam, Amer­i­can Samoa, Re­pub­lic of Palau and the Re­pub­lic of the Mar­shall Is­lands.

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.

SIGN UP LOG IN BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER