Covid-19 roundup: Am­gen joins the race to de­vel­op a drug; Doc­tors, nurs­es em­ployed by Mer­ck, Lil­ly, Pfiz­er can pitch in at the front lines

Join­ing forces with Seat­tle-based Adap­tive Tech­nolo­gies, Am­gen is look­ing to de­vel­op an an­ti­body-based treat­ment, echo­ing ef­forts from com­pa­nies in­clud­ing Vir Biotech­nol­o­gy and Re­gen­eron.

Adap­tive is in charge of the first stage of dis­cov­ery, while Am­gen will shoul­der the cost of clin­i­cal tri­als, and com­mer­cial­iza­tion if ap­proved. Fi­nan­cial de­tails of the deal were not dis­closed.

Akin to oth­er an­ti­body treat­ments in de­vel­op­ment, the ther­a­py will be de­signed to help flush out the virus in in­fect­ed pa­tients, and po­ten­tial­ly even be used as a tem­po­rary pro­phy­lac­tic for front-line health-care work­ers at high risk of ex­po­sure, David Reese, Am­gen’s ex­ec­u­tive VP of R&D, told the Wall Street Jour­nal.

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