COVID-19 Therapeutics Provider Information

This page includes quick summaries of the available therapeutics.
Providers must review the respective medication Fact Sheets.

Updates

General Evusheld Announcement:

The FDA announced on January 26, 2023, that the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for Evusheld has been revised. Evusheld is currently not authorized for use in the US. Please see the information regarding this decision here: https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-announces-evusheld-not-currently-authorized-emergency-use-us.

Please notify providers to discontinue the use of Evusheld and retain any leftover product per ASPR recommendations: https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-announces-evusheld-not-currently-authorized-emergency-use-us. Any orders submitted this week will not be placed.

“The U.S. Government recommends that facilities and providers with Evusheld retain all products if SARS-CoV-2 variants which Evusheld neutralizes become more prevalent in the U.S. in the future. The retained product must be appropriately held following storage conditions detailed in the authorized Fact Sheet for Health Care Providers and the Letter of Authorization.”

This is the guidance we recently received from CDPH concerning the destruction of unauthorized/expired therapeutics:

Licensed provider locations with destruction procedures in place that follow all federal, state, and local regulations may destroy therapeutics on-site only if:

Guidelines are followed on what product can be destroyed
Only expired products or unauthorized products that can no longer be stored
No unexpired product that is currently authorized for use can be destroyed
Sites are to follow established protocols for destruction and attest in HPOP to following all regulations
Quantities of any product destroyed are recorded in HPOP

HHS Assistant Secretary for Preparedness & Response Important Updates
HHS COVID-19 Therapeutics Decision Aid (updated 12/2022)
NIH Treatment Guidelines (updated 12/06/22)
- When no logistical constraints exist, therapies are to be prescribed for any eligible individual.
- If logistical constraints are faced, Providers should follow the NIH Prioritization.
CDC Interim Clinical Considerations for COVID-19 Treatment in Outpatients (updated 12/05/2022)
CDC Underlying Medical Conditions Associated with Higher Risk for Severe COVID-19: Information for Healthcare Professionals (updated 12/05/2022)
CDPH HEALTH ADVISORY: Reminder to Lower Barriers to Prescribing COVID-19 Therapeutics to Mitigate Impact of COVID-19 (12/02/2022)

Provider Resources

Do you have a clinical question about therapeutics? Email COVIDRxProviders@cdph.ca.gov.
Receive frequent updates!
- Register to attend CDPH weekly Provider webinars on Fridays at 9:00 a.m. Click here to view webinar recordings.
- Sign up to receive frequent email updates from CDPH.
COVID-19 Treatments Toolkit (ca.gov)
CDPH Therapeutics Best Practices
CDPH COVID-19 Test-to-Treat Playbook
CDPH COVID-19 Treatments Webpage for Providers
HHS Therapeutics Clinical Implementation Guide
Pharmacists Resources
- Electronic Data Transmission Prescriptions – Frequently Asked Questions – California State Board of Pharmacy
- September 2021 Edition of The Script (ca.gov)
- Pharmacist-Prescribed Paxlovid Guide (CPESN, 9/15/22)
- The Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for Paxlovid allows pharmacists to prescribe Paxlovid under specific circumstances. For more details, please see the California Board of Pharmacy Order Waiving Restrictions on Pharmacists Independently Initiating and Furnishing Paxlovid to Individual Patients. The Department of Healthcare Services (DHCS) will reimburse pharmacists for prescribing and dispensing Paxlovid by the California Board of Pharmacy Waiver and the Food and Drug Administration’s EUA.
Billing Instructions
- DHCS will reimburse pharmacists for prescribing (consultation and assessment)
- Providers will only be reimbursed the professional dispensing fee, not the ingredient cost.
- Claims for dispensing fee reimbursement must be submitted to Medi-Cal Rx for processing.
- Claims for consultation and assessment must be billed to DHCS as a Pharmacist Service.
- Reimbursement claims for consultation & assessment (CPT codes 99202 & 99212) must be submitted on a CMS 1500 medical claim form.
- Eligible claims must have an ICD-10-CM diagnosis code, U07.1 (COVID-19)
- Effective through the end of the declared public health emergency

Variants & Efficacy

The Ventura County Variants report provides aggregate whole genome sequencing results for local COVID-19 cases. This report is updated every Wednesday with the most current local data.
- For help navigating this report, watch this video.
The California COVID Assessment Tool (CalCAT) website includes nowcasts, forecasts, scenarios, and variants.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Variant Proportions webpage reflects up-to-date variant monitoring, links to nowcasts, and categorizes variant proportions by region.
The National Institutes of Health/National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NIH/NCAT) Open Data Portal on variant therapeutics offers a summary of findings from recent studies, with a table allowing for comparison of resistance profiles of different variants.
Variant Therapeutic in vitro Activity Visualization (nih.gov)
CDPH Variant Tracking
Therapeutic Efficacy Status as of 12/14/2022:
- Paxlovid /Lagevrio (Molnupiravir) /Veklury (Remdesivir) is expected to retain activity against all circulating variants based on preliminary data and sequence analysis; additional data is pending.
- mAbs currently not authorized for use (Regen-COV, Bamlanivimab/Etesevimab, Sotrovimab, Bebtelovimab) are routinely tested against emerging variants.

Shelf-life Extensions

In most cases, the packaging labels do not represent that product's expiration date. Be sure always to check the relevant web pages for current product-specific expiration dates.

Expiration Dating Extension | FDA
Paxlovid Product Extension
- Extension from 9 months to 12 months (4/5/22)
- Attachment from 12 months to 18 months (9/6/22)
Lagevrio (Molnupiravir) Product Extension from 24 months to 30 months (10/21/22 )
Bebtelovimab Product Extension from 18 months to 24 months (10/26/22)

Monoclonal Treatment

Bebtelovimab

FDA Announces Bebtelovimab is Not Currently Authorized in Any US Region | Important Update | HHS/ASPR (11/30/2022)

Oral Treatment

Paxlovid

Pfizer’s Paxlovid
Type: Oral antiviral – protease inhibitor.
Administration Route: By mouth (PO) – twice daily for five days.
Timing: As soon as possible after diagnosis of COVID-19 and within five days of symptom onset.
Target Population: COVID-19 patients 12 years of age and older weighing at least 40 kg at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19 symptoms. Many drug-drug interactions.

Lagevrio (Molnupiravir)

Merck and Ridgeback’s Molnupiravir
Type: Oral antiviral – nucleoside analog.
Administration Route: By mouth (PO) – every 12 hours for five days
Timing: As soon as possible after diagnosis of COVID-19 and within five days of symptom onset.
Target Population: COVID-19 patients 18 and older at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19 symptoms. It is NOT recommended in pregnancy.

Molnupiravir EUA Letter
Molnupiravir Fact Sheets
- Provider Fact Sheet (updated 08/05/2022)
  - Updated Section Microbiology (Section 12.4)
  - Addition of viral RNA rebound: Viral RNA Rebound Post-treatment increases in SARS CoV 2 RNA shedding levels (i.e., viral RNA rebound) in nasopharyngeal samples were observed on Day 10, Day15, and Day 29 in a subset of LAGEVRIO and placebo recipients in the Phase 3MOVe OUT trial. Approximately 1% of LAGEVRIO and placebo recipients had evidence of recurrent COVID-19 symptoms coinciding with a rebound in viral RNA levels in nasopharyngeal samples. Post-treatment viral RNA rebound was not associated with the primary clinical outcome of hospitalization or death through Day 29 following the single five day course of LAGEVRIO treatment. Posttreatment viral RNA rebound also was not associated with detecting cell culture infectious virus in nasopharyngeal swab samples.
- Fact Sheet for Patient/Caregivers
- Fact Sheet for Patient/Caregivers (Spanish)
Molnupiravir Resources

Intravenous Antiviral Therapy

Remdesivir

Gilead’s Veklury (Remdesivir)
Type: nucleotide analog RNA polymerase inhibitor
Administration Route: Intravenous (IV) infusion over 30 to 120 minutes
Timing: For nonhospitalized patients, as soon as possible after diagnosis of COVID-19 and within seven days of symptom onset. See Patient Information for initiation of treatment in hospitalized patients and the duration of treatment for hospitalized and nonhospitalized patients.
Target Population: Adults and pediatric patients (28 days of age and older and weighing at least 3 kg) with positive results of direct SARS-CoV-2 viral testing who are hospitalized or not hospitalized and have mild-to-moderate COVID-19 and are at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19, including hospitalization or death.

COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma (CCP)

COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma EUA Letter
COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma Provider Fact Sheet
Recommendations for Investigational COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma | FDA
- FDA issued an EUA to permit the emergency use of the unapproved product, COVID-19 convalescent plasma with high titers of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, for the treatment of COVID-19 in patients with immunosuppressive disease or receiving immunosuppressive therapy, in either the outpatient or inpatient setting. COVID-19 convalescent plasma is not authorized to treat immunocompetent patients with COVID-19.
- Given that the clinical evidence in patients with immunosuppressive disease or receiving immunosuppressive treatment remains limited, data from additional randomized, controlled trials are needed.
- FDA has authorized other treatments for emergency use for the treatment of COVID-19 in adults and pediatric patients in the outpatient setting. These products have more consistently demonstrated clinical benefit in this population and do not carry some of the risks associated with transfusion of blood components.
COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines: Convalescent Plasma and Immune Globulins | NIH
- Based on the available data, the Panel revised the recommendation language for using CCP in immunocompromised patients. There is currently insufficient evidence for the Panel to recommend either for or against the use of high titer CCP for the treatment of COVID-19 in hospitalized or nonhospitalized patients who are immunocompromised. Some Panel members would use CCP to treat an immunocompromised patient with significant symptoms attributable to COVID-19, signs of active SARS-CoV-2 replication, and inadequate response to available therapies. In these cases, clinicians should attempt to obtain high titer CCP from a vaccinated donor who recently recovered from COVID-19, likely caused by a SARS-CoV-2 variant similar to the variant causing the patient’s illness.
CCP Resources
- Convalescent Plasma l CDC & IDSA

Telehealth

How to obtain COVID-19 Therapeutics

Paxlovid and Molnupiravir: When prescribing these medications to your patients, providers should visit the HHS Therapeutics Locator to find pharmacies with a current supply. Patients may also be advised of the HHS Test to Treat (T2T) program and the HHS T2T Locator map.

Remdesivir: Veklury (Remdesivir) is commercially available through Gilead Pharmaceuticals and multiple distributors. For additional purchasing information or how to access Remdesivir, Providers may email remdesivir@amerisourcebergen.com, call 1-800-746-6273, or reach out directly to your AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal, or McKesson representative.