AstraZeneca to supply Thailand with 257,500 doses of its COVID-19 long-acting antibody combination AZD7442
AstraZeneca today finalised an agreement with Thailand’s Department of Disease Control to supply 257,500 doses of the long-acting antibody (LAAB) combination (tixagevimab and cilgavimab) AZD7442, aimed at protecting immunocompromised individuals from developing symptomatic COVID-19, with the first delivery scheduled for within the third quarter this year.
Certain people are “immunocompromised” as they are unable to mount an adequate response from a vaccine, due to an underlying health condition or medication they take that compromises or suppresses their immune system. These individuals are at a high risk of severe COVID-19 if they were to become infected.
AZD7442 was granted conditional marketing authorisation last week by the Food and Drug Administration in Thailand for the prevention of COVID-19, in a broad population of adults and adolescents aged 12 years and older weighing at least 40kg, no matter their COVID-19 vaccination status.
James Teague, Country President, AstraZeneca (Thailand) Ltd., said: “As we transition from pandemic to endemic, AstraZeneca remains committed to ensuring that no one in need of ongoing COVID-19 protection is left behind. The long-acting antibody combination provides people at high-risk of COVID-19 infection with another important prevention option alongside vaccination. While vaccines remain a critically important tool to reduce severe COVID-19 outcomes, some vulnerable populations are unable to develop adequate protection from vaccination alone.”
According to data from the University of Oxford, the antibody combination retains its neutralising activity against Omicron subvariants, BA.4 and BA.5 (both dominant in Thailand), and all other variants of concern. Additionally, results from the PROVENT Phase III pre-exposure prophylaxis (prevention) trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that AZD7442 reduced the risk of developing symptomatic COVID-19 compared to placebo by 77% in the primary analysis, and by 83% in the six-month follow-up analysis.
AZD7442 has marketing authorisation in the European Union and conditional marketing authorisation in Great Britain for the prevention of COVID-19. It is also authorised for emergency prevention use in the US and is being supplied in several other countries around the world.
