Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what papers and data were consulted in advance of the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and Chief Medical Officer taking the decision not to pursue procurement of Evusheld; and what is the most recent real time evidence of Evusheld’s effectiveness that they have consulted.

The decision not to procure Evusheld for prevention through emergency routes at this time is based on independent clinical advice by the multi-agency RAPID C-19 and a United Kingdom national expert policy working group. These groups considered a range of evidence, including clinical trial data, international studies and testing conducted by the UK Health Security Agency.

The most recent observational studies reviewed included Tixagevimab/Cilgavimab for Prevention of COVID-19 during the Omicron Surge: Retrospective Analysis of National VA Electronic Data; Association between AZD7442 (tixagevimab-cilgavimab) administration and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, hospitalisation and mortality; Tixagevimab/cilgavimab pre-exposure prophylaxis is associated with lower breakthrough infection risk in vaccinated solid organ transplant recipients during the omicron wave; Efficacy of anti-SARS-CoV-2 monoclonal antibody prophylaxis and vaccination on the omicron variant of COVID-19 in kidney transplant recipients; and COVID-19 morbidity decreases with tixagevimab-cilgavimab pre-exposure prophylaxis in kidney transplant recipient non-responders or low-vaccine responders. A copy of these studies is attached.

The Chief Medical Officer for England is content that the correct process for providing clinical advice has been followed and this should now be referred to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence for further evaluation.