The US Food and Drug Administration has authorised the use of AstraZeneca's antibody cocktail to prevent Covid-19 infections in individuals with weak immune systems or a history of severe side effects from coronavirus vaccines, Reuters reports.

The antibody cocktail, Evusheld, is only authorised for adults and adolescents who are not currently infected with the novel coronavirus and have not recently been exposed to an infected individual, the regulator said.

The authorisation for the therapy, made up of two monoclonal antibodies tixagevimab and cilgavimab, marks a significant step for AstraZeneca, whose widely used Covid-19 vaccine is yet to be approved by US authorities.