The U.S. government is providing roughly $486 million to AstraZeneca to accelerate the Big Pharma company’s experimental Covid-19 therapy.
The funds will be used to advance AstraZeneca’s antibody combination, AZD7442, into two phase-III clinical trials. The last-stage studies, expected to begin later this month or early next month, will involve more than 6,000 study participants at sites in and outside the United States. (Phase-III clinical trials are typically the last hurdle a pharmaceutical company must successfully clear before seeking approval for a new drug candidate.)