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(Adds comments from chief executive George Scangos)
By Carl O'Donnell
March 10 (Reuters) - Vir Biotechnology and Britain's
GSK plan to seek emergency use authorization for their
experimental COVID-19 antibody therapy after interim data from a
study showed 85% reduction in hospitalization and deaths among
patients, the companies said.
The move brings the antibody therapy one step closer to
becoming another weapon against the pandemic, with similar
therapies from Eli Lilly and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals
receiving recommendations from U.S. and European health
regulators earlier this year.
Vir and GSK said in a joint statement on Wednesday that an
independent panel recommended stopping further enrollment in the
late-stage trial of the therapy due to evidence of "profound
efficacy".
The companies said they plan to use the results of the study
to seek emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration and regulatory approvals in other countries.
Vir Chief Executive George Scangos said in a Thursday
interview with Reuters that Vir is in contract talks for the
therapy with governments including the United States and that
the data will likely speed up their progress towards a deal.
Antibody treatments are designed to decrease the severity of
COVID-19 among patients diagnosed with the infection.
Vir and GSK also said that a new laboratory study showed the
therapy, VIR-7831, was equally effective against the UK, South
African and Brazilian variants of the coronavirus.
Scangos said Vir is reviewing data from its study to
identify which patients have variants of COVID-19 and confirm
the antibody is effective against them.
"We don't yet have data to definitely say the antibody is as
effective against variants of the virus as it is against
prototypic strains. It appears that way from preclinical
research," Scangos said.
Vir and GSK announced a partnership last year to research
COVID-19 treatments.
(Reporting by Aakriti Bhalla and Derek Francis in Bengaluru and
Carl O'Donnell in New York; Editing by Anil D'Silva, Aditya Soni
and David Evans)
