--- title: Evusheld Loses U.S. Authorization Since It's Now Ineffective description: AstraZeneca's COVID-19 antibody drug, Evusheld, loses its authorization since it’s unlikely to work against current strains. canonical: https://time.com/6250735/evusheld-loses-authorization-not-effective/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-01-27T14:22:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T15:20:52.439Z article:section: Health og:title: Evusheld Loses U.S. Authorization Since It's Not Effective Against New Variants og:description: AstraZeneca's COVID-19 antibody drug, Evusheld, lost its authorization since it’s unlikely to work against current strains og:url: https://time.com/6250735/evusheld-loses-authorization-not-effective/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta8d1148c3e097707/698a39d801168289ca982b31/evusheld-astrazeneca.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: evusheld-astrazeneca og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Evusheld Loses U.S. Authorization Since It's Not Effective Against New Variants twitter:description: AstraZeneca's COVID-19 antibody drug, Evusheld, lost its authorization since it’s unlikely to work against current strains twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta8d1148c3e097707/698a39d801168289ca982b31/evusheld-astrazeneca.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Evusheld Loses U.S. Authorization Since It's Not Effective Against New Variants by [Madison Muller/Bloomberg](/author/bloomberg/) ## Madison Muller/Bloomberg Jan 27, 2023 2:22 PM CUT  A photo taken on February 8, 2022 shows a box of Evusheld, a drug for antibody therapy developed by pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca for the prevention of COVID-19 in immunocompromised patients at the AstraZeneca facility for biological medicines in Södertälje, south of Stockholm, Sweden. - AstraZenecas new facility in Sweden located in Södertälje was inaugurated last December and is dedicated to the production of next generation biological drugs such as Evusheld, a Covid-19 preventative monoclonal antibody treatment for immunocompromised people. (Photo by Jonathan NACKSTRAND / AFP) (Photo by JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP via Getty Images) A photo taken on February 8, 2022 shows a box of Evusheld, a drug for antibody therapy developed by pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca for the prevention of COVID-19 in immunocompromised patients at the AstraZeneca facility for biological medicines in Södertälje, south of Stockholm, Sweden. - AstraZenecas new facility in Sweden located in Södertälje was inaugurated last December and is dedicated to the production of next generation biological drugs such as Evusheld, a Covid-19 preventative monoclonal antibody treatment for immunocompromised people. (Photo by Jonathan NACKSTRAND / AFP) (Photo by JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP via Getty Images)Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP—Getty Images by [Madison Muller/Bloomberg](/author/bloomberg/) ## Madison Muller/Bloomberg Jan 27, 2023 2:22 PM CUT AstraZeneca Plc’s COVID antibody drug is no longer authorized for use in the U.S., regulators said Thursday, as it’s unlikely to work against strains of the virus that are now dominant across the country. Astra’s drug, called Evusheld, was authorized in December 2021 to prevent COVID infection in high-risk people, but has been rendered less effective by the virus’ mutations. At this point, fewer than 10% of the variants currently circulating in the U.S. appear to be responsive to Astra’s treatment, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said in a [statement](https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-announces-evusheld-not-currently-authorized-emergency-use-us "undefined"). In the meantime, Astra said in a [statement](https://www.astrazeneca.com/media-centre/press-releases/2023/update-on-evusheld-us-eua.html "undefined") that it’s testing a next-generation long-acting antibody to prevent COVID in immune-compromised people, and aims to make the drug available in the second half of 2023, pending regulatory approval. In early lab studies, the next-gen antibody was effective against all COVID variants tested, the company said, including those that have thwarted other drugs. “About 2% of the global population is considered at increased risk of an inadequate response to COVID-19 vaccination and could benefit from monoclonal antibodies for COVID-19 protection,” the company said. [Earlier this month](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-06/covid-mutations-imperil-astrazeneca-azn-antibody-drug "undefined"), the agency warned Evusheld was unlikely to work against the rapidly spreading XBB.1.5 variant, which has grown to account for [almost half](https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#variant-proportions "undefined") of the country’s COVID cases, but the drug remained on the market until now. This hasn’t just been a problem for Astra’s antibody. A U.S. National Institutes of Health panel had recommended against using any monoclonal antibodies to treat or prevent COVID in high-risk people because of the drugs’ waning effectiveness. Evusheld was the last antibody left on the market after the FDA revoked other drugs’ authorizations due to variants. COVID antibody drugs made by Eli Lilly & Co., Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. and a partnership between GSK Plc and Vir Biotechnology Inc. have all been pulled from the market as well. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6250735/evusheld-loses-authorization-not-effective/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6250735/evusheld-loses-authorization-not-effective/"},"headline":"Evusheld Loses U.S. Authorization Since It's Not Effective Against New Variants","datePublished":"2023-01-27T14:22:03.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T15:20:52.439Z","description":"AstraZeneca's COVID-19 antibody drug, Evusheld, lost its authorization since it’s unlikely to work against current strains.","url":"https://time.com/6250735/evusheld-loses-authorization-not-effective/","keywords":["COVID-19","wire","healthscienceclimate","bloomberg wire"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta8d1148c3e097707/698a39d801168289ca982b31/evusheld-astrazeneca.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Madison Muller/Bloomberg"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta8d1148c3e097707/698a39d801168289ca982b31/evusheld-astrazeneca.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"evusheld-astrazeneca","caption":"evusheld-astrazeneca","creditText":"Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/covid-19/","name":"COVID-19"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6250735/evusheld-loses-authorization-not-effective/","name":"Evusheld Loses U.S. Authorization Since It's Not Effective Against New Variants"}}]}] ```