SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. – After the Food and Drug Administration revised its authorization of the monoclonal antibody treatment Regeneron, a Seminole County site has moved its appointments to another treatment option and will remain open Tuesday.
The county said its site at Five Points Complex of Seminole County on U.S. Highway 17-92 will now be administering the Sotrovimab antibody treatment instead of offering Regeneron.
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The FDA updated its authorization Monday for two treatments: REGEN-COV, commonly called Regeneron after the company that makes it, and another treatment combining bamlanivimab and etesevimab for patients who have omicron.
The agency updated its recommendations to specifically limit the treatment’s usage to patients who have likely been infected by or exposed to a different COVID variant.
The decision is based on growing research showing the use of those two treatments are not as effective against the omicron variant, and limiting their use avoids exposing patients to side effects. Regeneron itself noted last month that REGEN-COV had “diminished potency against omicron.”
[RELATED: FDA says to not use Regeneron; state-run monoclonal sites closed in Florida]
While these two treatments are no longer authorized for use, the FDA says sotrovimab, another monoclonal antibody treatment, is still available. There are other authorized treatments available as well, including Paxlovid, remdesivir and molnupiravir.
Appointments at state-run sites have been canceled following the FDA’s announcement, prompting Gov. Ron DeSantis to demand the Biden Administration to reverse the authorization change.
“Without a shred of clinical data to support this action, Biden has forced trained medical professionals to choose between treating their patients or breaking the law,” he said in a release. “This indefensible edict takes treatment out of the hands of medical professionals and will cost some Americans their lives. There are real-world implications to Biden’s medical authoritarianism – Americans’ access to treatments is now subject to the whims of a failing president.”