Interview: Egypt 1st African country to receive Evusheld, drug reduces 83% of COVID-19 symptoms

CAIRO - 21 February 2022: Egypt received the first batch of the drug “Evusheld " for the purposes of preventing the Corona virus, amounting to 15,000 doses, days after the drug obtained an emergency use permit for the purposes of preventing COVID-19 from the Egyptian Drug Authority (EDA).

Egypt is the first African country and the fourth country in the world to receive the drug "Evusheld ", and more doses are expected to arrive in the coming weeks within the framework of the supply agreement, which includes 50,000 doses in total in 2022.

Egypt Today Egypt spoke to Country President for Egypt, AstraZeneca Hatem Werdany, who talked about the new drug “Evusheld " produced by the company and its effectiveness, in addition to talking about the third dose of AstraZeneca vaccine and the company's investments in Egypt.

 

Q: What is your new drug against COVID-19?

A: We have developed a long-acting antibody combination called Evusheld which is intended for high-risk individuals who will not respond to or who have insufficient response to vaccination and require a different form of protection to be able to return to their normal lives. These include patients with cancer, certain immune diseases or who are treated with immune suppressive therapy, people on dialysis and others with a suppressed immune system.

Evusheld represents an important step in our global fight against the pandemic and we hope this new long-acting antibody will fulfil the unmet need and help to protect the most vulnerable populations.

Q: How effective is it? What are the clinical results of trying this drug?

A: The primary data supporting Evusheld are from the ongoing PROVENT trial, which demonstrated an 83% reduction in the risk of developing symptomatic COVID-19 (at the six months analysis) with protection from the virus continuing for at least six months.

Additionally, in the TACKLE outpatient treatment trial, Evusheld reduced the risk of developing severe COVID-19 or death by 88% when treated in non-hospitalised patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 who had been symptomatic for three days or less.

Q: When will the new drug be available in Egypt?

A: Egypt is one of the first countries in the world to receive doses of Evusheld. 50,000 doses have been allocated to Egypt and a first batch of 15,000 doses recently arrived at Cairo international airport, soon after obtaining Emergency Use Authorization from the Egyptian Drug Authority (EDA). Further doses are expected to arrive in the coming weeks.

Millions of Egyptians have already received the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine and, thanks to Evusheld, we can now offer protection to immunocompromised patients and those who may not mount an adequate immune response to COVID-19 vaccination.

Q: In which other countries will the drug be available?

A: Evusheld is the only antibody therapy authorised for emergency use in the US for the prevention of COVID-19 prior to virus exposure. France, Bahrain and several other countries have also authorised the emergency use of Evusheld, and we are in active discussions with other countries.

The UAE and Egypt are the first Arab countries to have already received doses of Evusheld.

 

Q: Does the new drug need two doses or one dose?

A: For pre-exosure prophylaxis, Evusheld is delivered as a 300 mg intramuscular dose - 150mg tixagevimab and 150mg cilgavimab administered in two separate, consecutive injections.

Q: Is the new drug effective against Omicron?

A: Multiple independent pseudo-virus and authentic ‘live’ virus studies have shown that Evusheld retains neutralising activity against the Omicron variant and all tested SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern to date. 

Q: With regard to "AstraZeneca", when will the third dose be released for vaccinated people?

A: AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is either approved and/or recommended by national health authorities as a third dose booster in a number of countries, including Egypt. Our data also supports the use of our vaccine as third dose booster irrespective of the primary vaccination schedule tested.

We have delivered to date over 20 million doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to Egypt and are constantly working with the Government and our partners to increase that number to support Egypt’s vaccination campaign.

Q: Does the third dose of AstraZeneca vaccine contribute to protection from Omicron?

A: New data from a preliminary analysis of AstraZeneca’s ongoing safety and immunogenicity trial showed that AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, when given as a third dose booster, increased the immune response to Beta, Delta, Alpha and Gamma SARS-CoV-2 variants, while a separate analysis of samples from the trial showed increased antibody response to the Omicron variant.

In a recent real-world evidence study in Brazil, 90% of the participants that received AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine as a third dose booster were protected against both Omicron and Delta strains, similar to the performance of them RNA vaccine used in this study.

 

Q: As an international company, how does AstraZeneca see the Egyptian market? What’s the volume of the company’s total investment and your future investment plan for the coming period?

A: Egypt remains a key country of focus for us and we work closely with the local authorities to ensure uninterrupted access to innovative medication for patients. Our priorities are aligned with Egypt’s national agenda, ensuring that we work hand-in-hand to tackle challenges within the healthcare sector, effectively playing our part in contributing to a robust healthcare ecosystem.

AstraZeneca prides itself for more than five decades of successful presence in Egypt with over 800 employees. We have a current capital investment of around $60 million and expected to increase by around 50% over the coming 3 years.

We are continuously increasing our footprint significantly over the years through local partnerships and various programs to serve Egyptian patients. The company spent around $75 million in the past 3 years while we strive to bring innovative solutions to patients, in addition to supporting the healthcare ecosystem; by supporting the Governments’ efforts in the infrastructure upgrades and the continuous medical education for healthcare professionals.

With our focused efforts in terms of expansion, we are planning to spend in the coming 3 years around $120 million in bringing more innovation to the Egyptian market, as it continues to grow steadily while offering us great opportunities to capitalize on.