Monoclonal antibody sites throughout Florida will be closed after the Food and Drug Administration adjusted its authorization for the COVID-19 treatment.
The new FDA policy only allows those “likely to have been infected with or exposed to a variant that is susceptible to these treatments” to receive the new medication, despite Florida’s leadership advocating for its use among the populace.
“This indefensible edict takes treatment out of the hands of medical professionals and will cost some Americans their lives,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a Monday statement. “There are real-world implications to Biden’s medical authoritarianism — Americans’ access to treatments is now subject to the whims of a failing president.”
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DeSantis claimed in a Tuesday tweet that the Biden administration revoked the authorization “without a shred of clinical evidence.”
Without a shred of clinical data to support its decision, the Biden Administration has revoked the emergency use authorization for lifesaving monoclonal antibody treatments.
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) January 25, 2022
The FDA said that its reversal of the treatment’s authorization is because the treatments are “highly unlikely to be active against the omicron variant,” which was considered the dominant strain at one point.
DeSantis upheld the antibody treatments in a press conference, claiming the revoked authorization was based on a single study conducted by a rival company that was not peer-reviewed.
He went on to say that even if the treatment was only 50% effective or 25% effective, “it’s better than nothing.” DeSantis vowed to fight back against the revoked authorization but did not provide details as to what that might entail.
“Florida disagrees with the decision that blocks access to any available treatments in the absence of clinical evidence,” the state health department said in a press release.
The authorization reversal comes weeks after Florida secured 15,000 doses of monoclonal treatment. DeSantis has regularly advocated for the use of monoclonal antibodies to help residents treat COVID-19 over the emphasis on vaccines. However, early data released in December led researchers to believe that monoclonal antibodies are less effective against the omicron variant.
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Monoclonal antibodies are an artificial form of antibodies that provides the body with new defenses against a particular infectious disease, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. While vaccines can provide the body with the means to produce natural antibodies, monoclonal antibodies are a faster solution that can help supplement but not replace an individual’s need to develop immunity to a disease.
