Benzinga | Jan 11, 2022 07:22AM EST

GSK And Vir Biotechnology Announce United States Government Agreement To Purchase 600K Additional doses Of Sotrovimab, Authorized For Early Treatment Of COVID-19

-- 600,000 additional doses to be supplied to the US government for distribution in Q1 2022, enabling further access to sotrovimab nationwide --

-- Brings total number of doses secured to date through binding agreements to approximately 1.7 million globally --

-- Preclinical data generated through both pseudo-virus and live virus testing demonstrate sotrovimab retains activity against all tested SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern including Delta and Omicron --

LONDON and SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 11, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GlaxoSmithKline plc (NYSE:GSK) and Vir Biotechnology, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIR) today announced that the US government will purchase an additional 600,000 doses of sotrovimab, an investigational monoclonal antibody for the early treatment of COVID-19, enabling further nationwide access to sotrovimab for patients. The additional 600,000 doses will be delivered throughout the first quarter of 2022. This agreement is an amendment to earlier commitments announced with the US government in November 2021.

Including the commitments announced today, GSK and Vir have received binding agreements for the sale of approximately 1.7 million doses of sotrovimab worldwide. In addition, today's agreement also includes the option for the US government to purchase further additional doses in the second quarter of 2022.

Sotrovimab, which was granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in May 2021, is an investigational single-dose intravenous (IV) infusion SARS-CoV-2 monoclonal antibody. Under the EUA, sotrovimab can be used for the treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in adults and pediatric patients (12 years of age and older weighing at least 40 kg) with positive results of direct SARS-CoV-2 viral testing, and who are at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19, including hospitalization or death.

GSK and Vir expect to manufacture approximately 2 million doses globally in the first half of 2022 and additional doses in the second half of the year.