BCW Member Regeneron to Donate 500,000 COVID-19 Test Kits

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Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has announced that Regeneron Pharmaceuticals is creating 500,000 test kits for New York State at no charge amid a nationwide shortage of test kits and swabs. The first batch of test kits was delivered Monday and the State will receive an ongoing delivery of 25,000 kits per day.

“New York has been very aggressive on testing from day one – so far we have tested more than 220,000 New Yorkers with more than 15,000 new tests every day – and it has helped us slow the spread of this virus,” Governor Cuomo said. “Rapid testing is the fastest way to return to normalcy and get the economy back up and running, and will also help end the anxiety that has become the most oppressive part of this situation. We now have new testing capacity in New York thanks to donations from Regeneron and Corning so we can continue our work to plan forward and prepare for when the apex of the curve hits our healthcare system. In the meantime, New Yorkers must continue to comply with all social distancing protocols and stay home as much as possible to prevent spreading this virus to others.”

Regeneron has already announced that it has begun clinical trials for a COVID-19 treatment. It is evaluating Kevzara® (sarilumab) in patients hospitalized with severe COVID-19 infection. This U.S.-based trial will begin at medical centers in New York, and will assess the safety of adding Kevzara to usual supportive care. Kevzara, a fully-human monoclonal antibody, may play a role in driving the overactive inflammatory response in the lungs of patients who are severely or critically ill with COVID-19.