The Trump administration is planning to work with a biotech company in upstate New York to develop drugs to treat the rapidly spreading novel coronavirus, known as 2019-nCoV, under an existing partnership between the two.
The Department of Health and Human Services said it would collaborate with Tarrytown, New York-based Regeneron Pharmaceuticals to develop monoclonal antibodies against the virus. 2019-nCoV emerged from the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December and has since spread worldwide, infecting more than 17,500 people and killing more than 360 as of Monday, mostly in China, according to the World Health Organization. Experts have said the actual number of infected – when taking into account asymptomatic patients who have not yet been diagnosed – is likely closer to 100,000. The virus belongs to the same family as two other deadly coronaviruses, MERS and SARS.
Shares of Regeneron were up nearly 4% on the Nasdaq following the news Tuesday morning.
HHS’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority and Regeneron have had a partnership since 2014. The two have collaborated to develop REGN-EB3, a treatment for Ebola virus that is in Phase II/III development and showed superiority over the existing standard-of-care drug, Mapp Biopharmaceutical’s Zmapp, in December.
“Our unique suite of technologies expedites and improves the drug discovery and development process at every stage, positioning Regeneron to respond quickly and effectively to new pathogens,” Regeneron Chief Scientific Officer George Yancopoulos said in a statement. “We are eager to expand our productive collaboration with BARDA and are already working hard to address the novel coronavirus that is causing worldwide concern.”
Experts have suggested that it may not take long before vaccines or drugs against 2019-nCoV become available, thanks to new drug-development and delivery technologies and regulators’ willingness to consider them. One that has already entered clinical trials is Gilead Sciences’ remdesivir, an injected drug developed to treat Ebola that appeared to resolve symptoms of 2019-nCoV when administered to an infected man in Washington state. Remdesivir had previously shown efficacy against MERS coronavirus. Gilead’s shares have been rising since the clinical trial, taking place in Wuhan, was announced.
Photo: Mark Wilson, Getty Images
