Gov. DeSantis says White House is withholding monoclonal antibody treatment for COVID-19

Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is claiming that the White House has been withholding a treatment for the coronavirus that could potentially save lives.

Medical experts are saying, though, that the therapy has been ineffective against the omicron variant, which is currently dominating the United States. 

The treatment in question is called monoclonal antibodies, manufactured by Regeneron and Eli Lilly which provide the immune system with manufactured antibodies to help fight against the coronavirus.

“All Floridians at risk of COVID complications, vaccinated and unvaccinated alike, should have access to treatment with lifesaving potential,” said DeSantis spokeswoman Christina Pushaw in an email on Tuesday afternoon.

“There is no conclusive evidence that Regeneron and Lilly [monoclonal antibodies] are ineffective against Omicron, so the Biden administration had no justification for stopping those shipments to states.”

But the White House is holding that the treatment is not effective. The Food and Drug Administration has also withdrawn approval for monoclonal antibodies as treatment. “Let’s just take a step back here just to realize how crazy this is,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Tuesday.

“We’ve seen unfortunately, from the beginning, in our pandemic response, a range of steps or pushes that have been made through social media platforms, unfortunately from the mouths of elected officials, advocating for things that don’t work even when we know things do work.” 

Florida was forced on Monday to close the Regeneron treatment centers the state had opened in the fall in response to the FDA decision to withdraw approval of the treatment. The state’s surgeon general, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, criticized the decision, saying on Twitter and in a press release that the withdrawal was not justified.