HHS awards more than $1 billion to advance next-gen COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has awarded $1.4 billion to support vaccine clinical trials to test new, more effective and longer-lasting COVID-19 vaccines. In all, Project NextGen is a $5 billion initiative from Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

The aim of the program is to identify and address strengths and weaknesses of current COVID-19 therapies and vaccines, as well as the back the development of next-gen COVID-19 vaccines and therapies

The latest funding announcement announced allots $1 billion for vaccine clinical trials, $326 million for a new monoclonal antibody and another $100 million to spark innovation of novel vaccine and therapeutic technologies. 

Towards next-gen COVID-19 vaccines and therapies

Regeneron alone received $326 million under the program, dubbed Project NextGen. The funding for the Tarrytown, New York–bas…

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  • August 29, 2023
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Regeneron exec shares how Ebola inspired COVID-19 treatment

The speed that pharmaceutical companies developed COVID-19 treatments and vaccines was “seemingly miraculous,” said Dr. George Yancopoulos, co-founder of Regeneron (NSDQ: REGN), in remarks when receiving a Titans of Global Health award.

“But these miracles were actually born many decades earlier,” he said at the virtual event ceremony from the American Friends of the Hebrew University.

NIAID director Dr. Anthony Fauci and fellow Regeneron co-founder Dr. Leonard Schleifer also were honored at the event. 

Scientists had been working on mRNA on vaccines for more than a decade before the emergency use authorizations of COVID-19 vaccines from Moderna (NSDQ:MRNA) and Pfizer (NYSE:PFE). “Similarly, the technologies we use to develop our REGN-COV2 antibody cocktail were not available 10 or 20 years ago,” shared Yancopoulos, who is currently president and chief scientific officer of Regeneron. “We had to invent them and perfect them.” 

The antibody treat…

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  • May 26, 2021
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