HHS and Regeneron collaborate to develop 2019-nCoV treatment

To develop therapeutics to treat the 2019 novel coronavirus, the US Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) will expand an existing collaboration with US biotech Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: REGN), whose shares rose 4.5% to $372.16 on the news yesterday.

"Emerging infectious diseases can present serious threats to our nation's health security," said Rick Bright, deputy assistant secretary for preparedness and response and director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) at ASPR, adding: "Working as public-private partners like we have with Regeneron since 2014, we can move rapidly to respond to new global health threats."

"The life-saving results seen with our investigational Ebola therapy last year underscore the potential impact of Regeneron's rapid response platform for addressing emerging outbreaks," said Dr George Yancopoulos, president and chief scientific officer of Regeneron. "Our unique suite of technologies expedites and improves the drug discovery and development process at every stage, positioning Regeneron to respond quickly and effectively to new pathogens. We are eager to expand our productive collaboration with BARDA and are already working hard to address the novel coronavirus that is causing worldwide concern," he noted.