EUA: Emergency Use Authorization: Provisional approval of a drug or vaccine to relieve a hazard for which there is no other adequate therapy. An EUA is issued by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), based on the best available evidence for the safety, effectiveness, and risk of the therapy; it is not equivalent to formal approval or licensure.

 

mAb: Monoclonal Antibody: An antibody created in a laboratory setting from a single cell line that recognizes a single foreign protein (antigen). mAbs are used to treat autoimmune diseases, some cancers, transplant rejection, and some infections (e.g., COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus). Infectious agents can develop resistance to therapies, including mAbs, e.g., what worked against early SARS-CoV-2 variants may not work against Omicron and ensuing variants.

nAb: Neutralizing Antibody. An antibody that inactivates or blocks the effect of an antigen, for example, a biologically active molecule on the surface of a virus or a tumor cell.

RCT: Randomized Controlled Trial. A research study in which closely matched subjects are randomly assigned to either an experimental group (treatment group) or a control group (no intervention/placebo group).  This allows a powerful comparison of only the treatment outcome being studied.