Regeneron Pharmaceuticals extended its supply agreement with the U.S. government to provide additional doses of its Ebola treatment through 2031 in a deal worth about $270 million.
The renewed contract is with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or Barda, which is part of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response.
The agreement will provide additional supply of Inmazeb, a three-antibody cocktail of atoltivimab, maftivimab, and odesivimab-ebgn, for U.S. preparedness against Ebola disease, the company said Monday.
The drug is specifically indicated for infection caused by Orthoebolavirus zairense, and has been administered to hundreds of patients since 2019.
The deal comes as health authorities face a surge in Ebola, driven by the Bundibugyo strain in the Democratic Republic of the Congo recently. Cases have surfaced in other African nations such as in Nigeria and Kenya, prompting some to impose containment measures. Uganda and Rwanda have clamped down on public events and mass gatherings, while Congo has capped the number of people who can attend burials at 20.
In the U.S., the government has set up bans for noncitizens from entering the U.S. within 21 days of visiting Congo, Uganda or South Sudan.
"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," Regeneron Co-Chair and Chief Executive Leonard Schleifer said.
Regeneron is also currently advancing maftivimab, the most potent neutralizing of the three components in Inmazeb, as a potential treatment for Bundibugyo, for which no approved therapies currently exist.
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