11th Jan 2022 12:53
(Alliance News) - GlaxoSmithKline PLC on Tuesday announced that the US government will purchase 600,000 more doses of its Covid-19 antibody treatment, sotrovimab.
The Brentford, England-based pharmaceutical company, alongside San Francisco-based collaboration partner, Vir Biotechnology Inc, will provide the investigational monoclonal antibody treatment to the US government for nationwide distribution in the first quarter of 2022.
The purchase agreement, an amendment to a deal announced in November, includes an option for further purchases by the US government in the second quarter of 2022. No details were provided about the value of the deal.
This comes after preclinical data in December showed the drug was effective on all variants of concern, including Delta and Omicron.
GSK and Vir have received binding agreements for roughly 1.7 million doses of the antibody across the world. They plan to manufacture around 2 million doses globally in the first half of 2022, and more in the second half.
Sotrovimab was granted emergency use authorisation by the US Food & Drug Administration in May, enabling it to be used on mild-to-moderate cases in patients who are at high risk for severe Covid-19 infections.
"We are proud to continue to work with the US government to bring sotrovimab to patients who need it, especially as the Omicron variant continues to grow in prevalence across the country. We understand the role we can play in supporting the ongoing pandemic response, and our teams are working with urgency to explore options to expand our supply capacity so we can support more patients in 2022," said Maya Martinez-Davis, president of US Pharmaceuticals.
Shares in Glaxo were up 1.2% to 1,631.00 pence each on Tuesday in London.
By Elizabeth Winter; [email protected]
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