The Marriott Long Wharf Hotel in Boston, where the Biogen conference took place
A large biotechnology company that has seen dozens of its employees fall ill due to the Covid-19 pandemic has signed a deal with a smaller firm to manufacture antibodies that may be able to treat it.
San Francisco-based Vir Biotechnology said Thursday that it had signed a letter of intent with Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Biogen to develop and manufacture monoclonal antibodies as potential treatments for the disease, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Vir said the urgency of the situation has prompted them to start work while the deal is being negotiated.
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Vir’s shares were up 11% on the Nasdaq in mid-day trading Thursday following the news.
Biogen has been hit hard by an outbreak of the coronavirus following a management meeting in Boston two weeks ago. Shortly after the meeting, the company disclosed that three employees who attended had tested positive virus and directed those who had been at the meeting to work from home. However, it soon upgraded that directive to a full quarantine for all attendees when the number of infected jumped. As of Wednesday, there were 70 infections linked to the conference, out of the 92 total in Massachusetts, local media reported. The World Health Organization declared a pandemic on Wednesday.
“These exceptional circumstances presented by the threat of Covid-19 require that we work with great urgency in the interest of the public good,” Vir CEO George Scangos said in a statement. “Biogen is one of te global leaders in cell line and process development for advanced biologics; tapping into their capabilities will provide us with a U.S. base for supply and manufacture of antibody therapies.”
Scangos served as Biogen’s CEO from July 2010 until December 2016.
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Under the agreement, Biogen would do cell line development, process development and clinical manufacturing to advance development of Vir’s antibodies. Vir has already identified several antibodies that bind to SARS-CoV-2, which it said a month ago it had isolated from people who had survived infection during the 2002-2003 SARS epidemic.
The company has made several announcements in the last couple of months related to coronavirus. On Wednesday, it announced a partnership with the National Institutes of Health to research antibodies against the virus. It has also formed or expanded collaborations with companies like Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and China-based WuXi Biologics.
Photo: JOSEPH PREZIOSO, AFP, via Getty Images