Regeneron Receives $450 million contract to develop COVID-19 “Antibody Cocktail”

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Regeneron Pharmaceuticals has received a $450 million contract from the federal government to manufacture and supply REGN-COV2, its investigational treatment of COVID-19. Initial doses are expected to be ready by the end of summer.

If the U.S. Food and Drug Administration grants emergency use authorization or in fact approves Regeneron’s treatment, the federal government would allocate those doses to treat COVID-19 patients, according to a statement from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The medicine would then be available to Americans at no cost, however, health care professionals could charge insurers for the cost of administering the medicine.

“Regeneron’s thirty years of investment in our innovative VelociSuite antibody discovery and development technologies and our large-scale manufacturing facilities, coupled with the expertise and passion of our people, has enabled us to move the REGN-COV2 program forward at remarkable speed, said Leonard S. Schleifer, co-founder, president and CEO of the Tarrytown company.

The contract is part of the “Operation Warp Speed” program which seeks to deliver 300 million doses of a “safe, effective vaccine for COVID-19 by January 2021, as part of a broader strategy to accelerate the development, manufacturing, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics (collectively known as countermeasures), according to HHS.

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