Vir Biotech Secures US Government Contract For Influenza & Other Infectious Disease Candidates

With its COVID-19 monoclonal antibody sidelined in the U.S. since April and plans for full approval no longer in the cards, Vir Biotechnology Inc VIR is focusing on influenza product.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' BARDA has injected $55 million into the company's asset, dubbed VIR-2482, with the potential for up to $1 billion to advance the development across that program and others.
As part of the multi-year contract, Vir could be on tap to create as many as ten candidates — whether mAbs or other modalities — for emerging infectious diseases or Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear medical countermeasures.
Also see: WHO Recommends Against Roche, GSK's COVID-19 Therapies Rendering Them Obsolete.
The federal government concocted a 12-option agreement with the biotech.
Rajesh Gupta, VP, global health portfolio and public-private partnerships at Vir, said, "We are proud to have contributed to the fight against COVID-19 with the delivery of sotrovimab, and to have helped address Ebola with the co-discovery of ansuvimab-zykl. We now look forward to applying our scientific and executional expertise to this BARDA collaboration focused on advancing innovative solutions to influenza, as well as other infectious diseases with future pandemic potential."
Price Action: VIR shares are up 5.81% at $21.12 on the last check Tuesday.