LONDON—Europe’s medicines regulator has backed using AstraZeneca’s preventative COVID-19 therapy as a treatment for the disease and also endorsed another medicine as preventative option for another common virus.
The regulator’s recommendations are usually followed by the European Commission when it takes a final decision on drug approvals.
AstraZeneca said on Friday the European Medicines Agency (EMA) had backed Evusheld as a treatment for adults and adolescents with COVID-19 who do not need supplemental oxygen and who are at increased risk of their disease worsening.
Last month, Japan became the first country to approve the long-acting antibody as a treatment for COVID-19—making Evusheld the first such therapy authorized for both prevention and treatment of the viral disease….