Just approved: Evusheld for the pre-exposure prevention of COVID-19

So thankful, I received Evusheld today! It was the new two 300 mg. injections. How long does it take to be effective? Does it happen right away?

The Moderna vaccine caused a relapse in my CIDP. I have been trying to find out more about Evusheld. How have you been doing since your Evusheld injection?

So Evusheld has been approved for almost a half a year now.
The fact that doctors are not telling the patients about this drug is reprehensible. I take several drugs for several auto immune diseases and have been put in harms way by not being aware or informed about this protection which lasts for six months by the way. Doctors now cannot be too busy to properly take care of their patients. Medicine has gotten out of hand. Covid messed us up that’s so did greed. I have a concierge Doctor Who gets $2000 a foot so he can afford to say less patience. My care has been mediocre at best. I had to ask for an antibody test which showed zero antibodies. I did research and found a place to go. He faxed me a prescription without a diagnosis. When you find where to go make sure your prescription has the name of your auto immune disease. And for the time being Evusheld lasts for only six months. Something new might be out there next month who knows. The doctor should know. I think insurance companies are not losing money and I haven’t seen a doctor on welfare yet. I too have been in the medical field many years ago. The care has changed drastically and I blame Covid and greed. Be your own advocate. Ask questions until you understand fully what you need to understand to take better care of yourself. Be brave and be aware. Good luck and better health to all of us.

Made a few mistakes in my last response by example that was $2000 a up front not a foot. Sorry there might be other errors.

It is not helpful. NYT can't see unless you have a subscription. Other article says not found

Hi @jennifer0726 😊 Congratulations on getting your Evusheld shot! Yes, the shot is the actual synthetic antibodies so there is no waiting period to develop antibodies. When I was tested, I had >2500 immediately. Awesome!! Remember, it's 76% effective, so continue to keep yourself safe around the new variants. Mask indoors in public settings, no huge concert crowds, social distance when you can (we don't even want a cold, sore throat or flu if we can help it!) and definitely keep an eye on your local Covid community numbers to check the prevalence in your area (or the area you are traveling to). Evusheld is wonderful, but it doesn't make you bullet-proof.
@marilynredder2367 I think an important reason why none of our doctors are talking about Evusheld is there is no supply. Even Mayo doesn't talk about it. (They are using a lottery system for their tiny supply). If a doc tells you about Evusheld, his next comment is "good luck!" finding it. When the government ordered from AstraZeneca they weren't even close to the numbers needed to cover the immune suppressed population. Then the next excuse was they needed more money before they could order more. I am not sure what the latest status is on the government's ordering process but currently it's unavailable in most locations, so the docs are not mentioning it. @jennifer0726 how did you hear about Evusheld?

@hello1234 I read about it in the news and then saw it mentioned here and other PKD groups I belong to on FB.
I am doing exactly as you suggested-I obtained both 300 mg higher doses back on 2/25/22. For me, it hasn’t changed my behavior all that much, but if I am around some people I feel just a bit more protected. It was thought it might provide up to 77% protection. I hope it will still be available when I get to the six month mark and I can get it again! Take care friends!

After finally giving me a blood test for antibodies at my request. It took 2 tests to see I had 0. I asked him where to get the shot. My fiend had a new heart and she told me about it. Doctor then gave me a number to text and it went from there.

Here's the article from the New York Times;

The F.D.A. authorizes an AstraZeneca drug to protect people with immune problems.

Esther Jones, a kidney transplant recipient, is immunocompromised. In her case, two doses of a Covid vaccine failed to jolt her immune system to produce an adequate response. The F.D.A. on Wednesday authorized a new drug to protect immunocompromised people.Credit...Amanda Lucier for The New York Times

By Rebecca Robbins

Dec. 8, 2021

The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday authorized the first drug for widespread use in preventing Covid in Americans with weakened immune systems who have not been adequately protected by vaccines.

The antibody treatment, which was developed by AstraZeneca and will be sold under the brand name Evusheld, is engineered to be “long-acting,” meaning the body metabolizes it more slowly so that it can stay active for months. That is expected to offer longer-lasting protection — perhaps for half a year — compared to the monoclonal antibody treatments that are given to high-risk people already sick with Covid.

The F.D.A. authorized AstraZeneca’s treatment for people with immune problems, a group that includes blood cancer patients, transplant recipients and people taking drugs that suppress the immune system. The authorization also included the very small number of people for whom vaccines are not recommended because they are allergic to Covid vaccines or their ingredients.

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The United States has contracted with AstraZeneca to buy up to 700,000 doses of the treatment. A Biden administration health official said the doses will be allocated proportionally to states and that the first doses will begin to be distributed at no cost within the next few weeks.

“People who are immunocompromised have spent the last year not celebrating the vaccine but instead being more and more afraid of getting Covid and the implications of getting Covid,” said Dr. Dorry Segev, a transplant surgeon at Johns Hopkins University. “The immunocompromised population has been waiting for this for months and begging for this for months.”

Scientists are scrambling to run lab experiments to see how well Evusheld and other antibody treatments hold up to the Omicron variant, which has caused alarm because it contains mutations in the spike protein that is the target of some Covid drugs. AstraZeneca said that the mutations relevant to its treatment that have been tested so far in experiments do not suggest that the drug’s effectiveness will be significantly weakened against the variant.

AstraZeneca’s treatment is given via an intramuscular injection, like vaccines. It was shown to be strongly effective at preventing Covid in a clinical trial, reducing the risk of developing a symptomatic infection by 83 percent. That study mostly enrolled people who were at high risk of getting Covid, but the company has not broken out the results for people with immune problems.

A growing body of research has shown that many people with weak immune systems do not respond well to Covid vaccines, leaving them vulnerable to infection. The F.D.A. authorized third shots for such people long before they were recommended for the general population, but even three shots may not be enough for some.

An estimated 5 percent of the population is considered to be immunocompromised. Dr. Segev estimated that that has translated into millions of Americans who are not sufficiently protected by vaccines. AstraZeneca estimated that about five million people in the United States may benefit from its drug.

The F.D.A. said that Evusheld may be effective at preventing Covid for six months. That is thought to be longer than the protection provided by another antibody drug, from Regeneron, that the F.D.A. authorized over the summer to prevent Covid-19 in a limited number of patients with compromised immune systems who had not yet been exposed to the virus. They were at high risk of exposure as a result of living in nursing homes, prisons, or under similar conditions.

The vast majority of people with immune-system problems have become eligible for monoclonal antibody treatments, which are typically infused at a hospital or clinic, only after they had already been exposed to the virus or gotten sick.

So happy, after rattling lots of cages today is Evusheld day for me. I had to read a brochure about the risks and sign off that I understand them before my doc would even write the Rx! My doctor finally, finally, wrote the Rx and we got it to the infusion center. Yaaay. Infusion center says they have tons of the stuff, that it’s doctors hesitancy to prescribe it that gets in the way. I am just happy that I can be a bit protected!