Vir Biotechnology, Inc. announced that the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services? (HHS) Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), has awarded Vir approximately $50 million in new funding to advance the development of novel monoclonal antibody (mAb) candidates and delivery solutions to widen the applicability of mAbs in COVID-19 and in pandemic preparedness and response. The new funding will support research and development of novel alternative mAb delivery technologies that have the potential to revolutionize mAb delivery by increasing expression relative to existing technologies.

Such delivery could widen the breadth of administration options and shorten development and manufacturing timelines. $40 million of the total funds is part of ?Project NextGen,? an initiative by the HHS to advance a pipeline of new, innovative vaccines and therapeutics for COVID-19 and will support the development of VIR-7229 through Phase 1 in the context of developing alternative mAb delivery technologies.

The Phase 1 trial is expected to be completed in the second half of 2025. $10 million of the total funds falls under support from the Division of Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) medical countermeasures of BARDA which will support the discovery of new mAbs against a second pathogen of pandemic potential in the context of further advancing alternative mAb delivery technologies. The new investment falls under Vir?s existing Other Transaction Authority (OTA), a multi-year contract BARDA awarded Vir in 2022.

This OTA allows for a potential total investment of up to $1 billion to support Vir?s development of future pandemic influenza mAbs as well as the potential development of up to 10 emerging infectious disease or CBRN medical countermeasure candidates. The balance of the potential funding is subject to BARDA exercising up to 12 options in further support of the development of pre-exposure prophylactic antibodies for the prevention of influenza illness or supporting medical countermeasures for other pathogens of pandemic potential. Vir is also receiving approximately $11 million in additional BARDA funding that will be applied to wind down activities for the BARDA-supported Phase 2 PENINSULA trial evaluating the investigational prophylactic mAb VIR-2482 for the prevention of symptomatic influenza A illness.

These programs have been funded in whole or in part with federal funds from the Department of Health and Human Services; Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR); Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), under OT number: 75A50122C00081.