European Union said on Wednesday that a contract has been signed between them and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to supply approximately 220,000 treatments of its investigational monoclonal antibody therapy against COVID-19, sotrovimab.
According to the commission, a U.S. firm, Vir Biotechnology, has also contributed in the development of the drug. The said drug can be used for the treatment of high-risk coronavirus patients with minor symptoms, to whom supplemental oxygen isn’t required.
This deal has proved to be a booster for GSK work. Before this, the company had played a partial role in the development of the vaccines. It concentrated on supplying the boosters to other developers instead of manufacturing its own coronavirus shot and also partnered with Sanofi to develop a shot.
The agreement was confirmed in a statement by GSK on Wednesday, saying it signified “a crucial step forward for treating cases of COVID-19” in Europe.
Presently, European Medicines Agency (EMA) is evaluating the drug under a progressing analysis. United States has given emergency usage authorisation (EUA) to treat mild-to-moderate patients of COVID-19 who have high-risk of developing an infection.
16 of the 27 EU states have supported the contract. The drug can be bought by these states after its approval by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) or national drug regulators.
The settled price for the potential purchase has not been revealed. Therefore, the spokesman of the commission refused to talk about this matter.
A contract was signed between European Union and Swiss pharmaceutical giant, Roche, in April, prior to the deal with GSK. That deal was made to secure nearly 55,000 doses of a potential treatment, manufactured by Roche along with the US-based pharmaceutical company, Regeneron. The treatment was based on a cocktail of monoclonal antibodies.
Besides this monoclonal treatment, EU has bought only Gilead’s remdisivir, an antiviral medicine, as a treatment against COVID-19.
GSK gets EU order for its investigational monoclonal COVID-19 antibody therapy
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