Drugmakers Broaden Pitch for Covid Therapy as Case Rate Slows
- Antibodies seen as possible preventive for weak immune systems
- Push comes as analysts question therapy’s longterm prospects
Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
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As Covid-19 cases decline, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Vir Biotechnology Inc. are seeking new life for their monoclonal antibody therapies as preventative drugs, targeting millions of people worldwide with compromised immune systems.
The list of conditions is long, ranging from blood cancers to organ transplants and diseases such as multiple sclerosis and HIV. In some cases, the maladies themselves weaken the immune system; in others, it’s the drugs the patients must take. But in all cases, this group of patients is left wide open for dangerous opportunistic infections.