Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Minster of State for the Department of Health and Social Care on 27 January (127906), what steps they will take to explore a Covid antibody testing study; and why Evusheld still has not been delivered, given the recommendation by the Chief Medical Officer on 24 August 2022 to "consider the options for identifying the potentially eligible patients who might benefit from this medicine".

The Antivirals and Therapeutics Taskforce are working with COVID-19 antibody testing experts to develop a study, building on existing data and research infrastructure to build evidence for more informed decisions for clinical interventions and the level of protective behaviours based on an individual patient’s risk.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is conducting a Health Technology Assessment of Evusheld. This is the routine process for new medicines to be evaluated for clinical and cost effectiveness, which will provide recommendations through NICE’s guidance on the use of Evusheld in the National Health Service. The process includes considering ‘the options for identifying the potentially eligible patients who might benefit from this medicine’, as recommended by RAPID C-19.