600,000 Additional Doses to Be Supplied

GSK and Vir Biotechnology secure additional dose agreement with the US for COVID-19 early treatment drug. In the first quarter of 2022, the United States will receive an additional 600,000 doses of the monoclonal antibody drug developed by GSK and Vir Biotechnology for early treatment of COVID-19. With this, the two companies will have supplied approximately 1.7 million doses globally under agreements reached to date. Recently, GSK and Vir Biotechnology announced that the United States will purchase an additional 600,000 doses of the monoclonal antibody drug jointly developed for early treatment of COVID-19. Production of approximately 2 million doses of this drug is planned for the first half of 2022 worldwide; in the second half of the year, production will continue as additional doses. Maya Martinez-Davis, President of GSK's US Pharmaceutical Division, particularly emphasized sensitivity regarding the prevalence of the Omicron variant across the country. Martinez-Davis stated: "We are proud to continue our efforts to deliver the antibody drug to patients who need it. We are aware of the role we can play in combating the pandemic, and our teams are working at full capacity to find ways to expand our supply capacity to reach more patients in 2022." Dr. George Scangos, Chief Executive Officer of Vir Biotechnology, commented on the matter: "We are pleased to work once again with the US government to provide greater access to the antibody drug for COVID-19 cases that may have severe outcomes. Data from clinical studies conducted by the industry and academia show that our antibody drug is effective against all variants we have tested." The monoclonal antibody drug developed in collaboration between GSK and Vir Biotechnology received emergency use authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in May 2021, and the Phase 3 results of the drug were published in October.