The biotechnology company will supply additional 1.4 million 1,200mg doses of REGEN-COV to the US government, at a cost of $2,100 per dose

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Regeneron’s new Eastview office building. (Credit: Jim.henderson/Wikipedia.)

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals announced that the US government has agreed to purchase additional doses of its Covid-19 antibody cocktail REGEN-COV.

The agreement with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Department of Defence (DOD) follows Regeneron’s two earlier agreements with the US government.

As per the agreement, the biotechnology firm will supply additional 1.4 million 1,200mg doses of REGEN-COV to the US government, at a cost of $2,100 per dose.

The US government intends to provide Regeneron’s Covid-19 antibody cocktail to patients free of cost.

Regeneron is expected to deliver the additional REGEN-COV doses to the US government this month, with the majority of them delivered in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Regeneron president and CEO Leonard Schleifer said: “More than a year and a half into this pandemic, too many people are still being hospitalised and dying due to Covid-19.

“While vaccination remains the first line of defence to decrease the burden of Covid-19, REGEN-COV is a key tool that reduces the risk of hospitalisation or death by 70% in high-risk individuals when given early in the course of the infection.

“Recently there has been greater demand for REGEN-COV, and we will provide additional doses to the US government as quickly as possible.”

REGEN-COV is a combination of two monoclonal antibodies casirivimab and imdevimab, designed specifically to block the infectivity of SARS-CoV-2.

It leverages Regeneron’s unique VelocImmune and VelociSuite technologies.

The antibody therapy has been authorised by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under an emergency use authorisation (EUA) to treat people at high risk of Covid-19.

Also, it has received UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) Conditional Marketing Authorisation (CMA) last month, to prevent and treat Covid-19.

REGEN-COV showed positive results across the spectrum of Covid-19 infection, from prevention to hospitalisation, in the Phase 3 trial programme.

It offered prevention of symptomatic infection in asymptomatic household contacts of SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals, and treatment of non-hospitalised patients already infected.

Regeneron has received funding support from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), for the development of REGEN-COV.

The company has teamed up with Roche to provide the development and distribution of the antibody cocktail outside the US, to support the global supply.