US orders 600K doses of antibody treatment to help fight omicron

The U.S. is buying another 600,000 doses of a monoclonal antibody treatment from GlaxoSmithKline and Vir Biotechnology, the companies said, as the Biden administration looks to bolster treatment options.

The GSK and Vir antibody treatment is the only one of three monoclonal antibody treatments that is thought to work well against the omicron variant.

The deal brings the total doses purchased worldwide to 1.7 million, GSK said. It did not disclose a price for the order. The doses will be delivered throughout the first quarter of 2022, according to the company.

The GSK and Vir antibody treatment, called sotrovimab, has risen in importance since two other antibody treatments, from Regeneron and Eli Lilly, are thought to lose effectiveness against the omicron variant.

An earlier trial found sotrovimab reduced the risk of hospitalization or death by 79 percent in people with mild or moderate COVID-19 at high risk of progressing to severe disease.  

“Data from multiple pseudo-virus and live virus preclinical studies, generated by industry and academia, continue to demonstrate that sotrovimab retains activity against all tested variants of concern and interest,” said George Scangos, CEO of Vir. “We are proud of our ongoing contributions to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic here in the US and around the world.” 

The Biden administration has also been working to boost supply of Pfizer’s treatment Paxlovid, which has the advantage that it is a pill, not requiring infusions like antibody treatments.  

The U.S. last week ordered an additional 10 million courses of the Pfizer pill, bringing the total order to 20 million.