Regeneron agrees to $270m extension to supply Ebola medicine in US

The arrangement builds on a partnership with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) established in 2020.

BARDA is part of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response within the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Under the renewed terms, the biotechnology company will supply extra doses of the three-antibody formulation to maintain national emergency stockpiles.

Regeneron board co-chair, president and CEO Leonard Schleifer said: “Maintaining a ready supply of Inmazeb is exactly the kind of preparedness this country needs for the threats we can already see on the horizon.

“This extended agreement reflects the strength of our long-standing collaboration with BARDA and our shared commitment to ensuring that at-the-ready medicines are available whenever an Ebola outbreak occurs.”

Separately, an investigational monotherapy derived from the formulation is advancing in human clinical assessments.

Maftivimab, the primary neutralising antibody in the cocktail, is being evaluated in the Platform Adaptive Randomised Trial for New and Repurposed Filovirus Treatments (PARTNERS).

Researchers are testing the candidate against an ongoing Bundibugyo virus outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), for which no approved treatments are available.

Sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO) alongside Africa CDC, the trial is coordinated by the University of Oxford’s Pandemic Sciences Institute and directed locally by the DRC’s Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale, supported by the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp.

Regeneron is also assisting the Afya Foundation with healthcare worker protective measures during the current outbreak.

Comprising atoltivimab, maftivimab, and odesivimab-ebgn, Inmazeb received US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance in 2020 to treat Orthoebolavirus zairense infections in adults and children, including newborns.

Clinical data showed that the treatment reduced mortality by approximately 55% compared with an active comparator in patients with low viral loads.

The therapy is also available through compassionate-use programmes in the DRC and Guinea, alongside an agreement to provide up to 500 doses to the WHO for vulnerable countries.

In June, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and CytomX expanded their research and licensing partnership to develop conditionally activated bispecific antibody cancer therapies, with the deal’s total potential value rising to up to $4bn.