The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) has awarded Evotec SE’s subsidiary Just-Evotec Biologics Inc. a contract valued up to US$74 million for the rapid development of monoclonal antibody (MAb)-based drug product prototypes targeting orthopoxviruses.
Another monoclonal antibody therapy has entered the pandemic fray with the FDA granting emergency use authorization (EUA) for bamlanivimab (LY-CoV555) 700 mg and etesevimab (JS016 or LY-CoV016) 1,400 mg as a cocktail for treating mild to moderate COVID-19 in patients aged 12 and up at high risk for progressing to severe COVID-19 and/or hospitalization.