Summary Parliamentary Questions since approval Evusheld
24/3/2022
Duncan Baker Conservative, North Norfolk
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 20 December 2021 to Question 92097 and following the Conditional Marketing Authorisation awarded by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency on 17 March 2022, what plans he has to ensure that severely immunocompromised patients have access to Evusheld; and what estimate he has made of when the first patients will start to receive that treatment.
Maggie Throup The Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health and Social Care
We are unable to provide the information requested as it is commercially sensitive. Any public announcement on the procurement of treatments would be made after an agreement is reached with companies. The Department is scoping the potential introduction of pre-exposure prophylaxis. This includes identification of the most appropriate patient groups which could benefit and the potential deployment and administration process. However, treatments must be clinically cost-effective and demonstrate sufficient efficacy against Omicron and new variants.
28/3/2022
Daisy Cooper Liberal Democrat Spokesperson (Health and Social Care)
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when Evusheld will be made available to (a) adults and children over 12 who have primary and secondary antibody deficiency, and who may not produce an adequate response to Covid vaccines (b) those for whom vaccination is not recommended.
Maggie Throup The Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health and Social Care
We are unable to provide the information requested as this is commercially sensitive. Any public announcement on the procurement of treatments would be made after an agreement is reached with companies.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in the context of the Conditional Marketing Authorisation awarded by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency on 17 March 2022, what plans he has to (a) procure Evusheld and (b) roll out the treatment to severely immunocompromised patients.
28/3/2022
Henry Smith Conservative, Crawley
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many doses of the MHRAapproved Evusheld covid-19 preventative treatment for immunocompromised patients his Department plans to procure; and when he expects to outline eligibility to receive this treatment.
Henry Smith Conservative, Crawley
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in the context of the Conditional Marketing Authorisation awarded by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency on 17 March 2022, what plans he has to (a) procure Evusheld and (b) roll out the treatment to severely immunocompromised patients.
Maggie Throup The Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health and Social Care
We are unable to provide the information requested as this is commercially sensitive. Any public announcement on the procurement of treatments would be made after an agreement is reached with companies.
12/4/2022
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, other than Evusheld, they are aware of any monoclonal antibody treatment that can protect the clinically extremely vulnerable through pre-exposure prophylaxis (PREP) against Omicron and its variants; and, if so, to list them.
Lord Kamall The Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health and Social Care
The Department’s Antivirals and Therapeutics Taskforce is scoping the potential for pre-exposure prophylaxis with experts from the Prophylaxis Oversight Group, the UK Health Security Agency and the multi-agency group RAPID C-19.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has approved two such products Evusheld and Ronapreve. However, treatments must demonstrate sufficient efficacy against Omicron and new variants. Ronapreve has been withdrawn from general use as it has since been found to be ineffective against the Omicron variant. We are therefore gathering data on how Evusheld performs against new variants.
19/4/2022
Daisy Cooper Liberal Democrat Spokesperson (Health and Social Care)
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the results of Government’s tests on the effectiveness of the drug Evusheld against covid-19 omicron sub variants will be published.
Maggie Throup The Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health and Social Care
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
20/4/2022
Daisy Cooper Liberal Democrat Spokesperson (Health and Social Care)
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Government has undertaken an assessment of which immunocompromised patients should be eligible for treatment with the drug, Evusheld, due to their lack of response to the covid-19 vaccine; and whether the Government has plans to undertake antibody testing on those individuals to assess their response.
Maggie Throup The Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health and Social Care
The Department is reviewing the potential introduction of pre-exposure prophylaxis treatments, such as Evusheld. This includes the identification of appropriate patient groups, the potential deployment and administration process and assessment of antibody testing prior to treatment.
Andrew Gwynne Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the timeframe for Evusheld being available for eligible patients following its recent MHRA approval.
Maggie Throup The Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health and Social Care
We are unable to provide the information requested as it is commercially sensitive. Any public announcement on the procurement of treatments would be made after an agreement is reached with companies.
Daisy Cooper Liberal Democrat Spokesperson (Health and Social Care)
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to place an order for the drug, Evusheld.
Maggie Throup The Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health and Social Care
We are unable to provide the information requested as it is commercially sensitive. Any public announcement on the procurement of treatments would be made after an agreement is reached with companies.
Daisy Cooper Liberal Democrat Spokesperson (Health and Social Care)
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason the Government is conducting tests of the drug, Evusheld, on covid-19 omicron sub variants in the context of the United States Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency having demonstrated through similar studies that that drug maintains protection.
Daisy Cooper Liberal Democrat Spokesperson (Health and Social Care)
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the results of Government’s tests on the effectiveness of the drug Evusheld against covid-19 omicron sub variants will be published.
Maggie Throup The Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health and Social Care
The Department’s Antivirals and Therapeutics Taskforce is scoping the potential for pre-exposure prophylaxis, alongside experts from the Prophylaxis Oversight Group, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and the multi-agency group RAPID C-19. As part of this evaluation, treatments must demonstrate sufficient efficacy against Omicron and new variants to avoid escape mutations. Therefore, the UKHSA is undertaking further testing on Evusheld’s effectiveness against the Omicron variant. The timing of these results is dependent on the success of the testing assays, therefore we are currently unable to confirm when these results may be published.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has authorised Evusheld for use in the United Kingdom. However, it has noted in its Summary of Product Characteristics that no clinical data is available on the use of Evusheld against Omicron variants and there is uncertainty on the dosage and duration of effectiveness, as in vitro data has shown reduced efficacy against some variants, including Omicron.
1
Reply
I have written to my MP as many have done and in six pages referred to the 5 TESTs the Government were asked to consider in there living with Covid Plan and their atrocious performance generally but more specifically in relation to test 5, ref was made to the excuses made so far.
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In relation to efficacy against omicron
in relation to confidentiality
The government have also apparently hidden behind the suggestion of commercial confidentiality, although this situation was strongly denied in an article in I News on April 5th Health Section (subscription only). Hence no link. See also Adrian Warnock’s website
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