Roche to Partner with Regeneron to Increase Supply of COVID-19 Treatment

Roche announced on August 18, 2020 that they are partnering with Regeneron to develop, manufacture, and distribute REGN-COV2, Regeneron’s investigational antiviral antibody combination for the treatment of COVID-19. The collaboration will increase the supply of the potential treatment to at least three and a half times the current capacity.

Through the agreement, the companies will each dedicate manufacturing capacity to the antibody each year while handling their own distribution expenses in their designated territories, a Roche press release said. Both companies will fund Phase III prevention and Phase I healthy volunteer safety studies along with additional global studies to determine the potential for REGN-COV2 in treating or preventing COVID-19.

REGN-COV2 is currently in Phase II/III clinical trials for the treatment of COVID-19 and in a Phase III trial for the prevention of COVID-19 in household contacts of infected individuals, the press release said.

“We are excited about the potential for one medicine to serve both as a treatment for those infected as well as protection for people exposed to the virus. REGN-COV2 could be a critical line of defense against the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Bill Anderson, CEO of Roche, in the press release. “We’re committing our manufacturing expertise and capacity, and our global distribution network to bring Regeneron’s potential antibody combination to as many people around the world as we possibly can.”

“Regeneron has progressed the REGN-COV2 research and development program at record speed and worked tirelessly to maximize our in-house manufacturing capacity,” said Leonard S. Schleifer, MD, PhD, president and CEO of Regeneron, in the press release. “This major collaboration with Roche provides important scale and global expertise to bring REGN-COV2 to many more patients in the United States and around the globe.”

Source: Roche