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 The company said on Tuesday it had signed a second set of deals with
authorities in the United states backing its development of a
monoclonal antibody treatment against the coronavirus.
It declined to disclose details of the agreement but said it had
agreed terms with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
and Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA)
to move two COVID-19 antibody therapies it has licensed from
researchers into clinical studies in the next two months.
Companies and governments are scrambling to bring a solution for the
illness caused by the new coronavirus to market as soon as possible,
and many in the medical community believe antibody-based therapies
hold great potential.
The United States has already secured 300 million doses of
AstraZeneca's experimental COVID-19 vaccine, AZD1222, and Defense
Secretary Mark Esper vowed last month that the U.S. military and
other parts of the government would work with the private sector to
produce a vaccine at scale by year-end.
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AstraZeneca said it has licensed six monoclonal antibody candidates from
Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. Two of those six prospective
proteins will be tested as a combination approach for COVID-19. (https://bit.ly/3cSDR0d)
Antibodies are generated in the body to fight off infection. Monoclonal
antibodies mimic natural antibodies and can be isolated and manufactured in
large quantities to treat diseases in patients.
Shares of London's most valuable listed company were up 1.3% at 8,307 pence by
1114 GMT.
(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard Orr & Aditya
Soni and Kirsten Donovan)
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