Chugai Pharmaceutical has announced that the company has agreed with the Japanese government regarding the antibody cocktail- casirivimab and imdevimab, which is being investigated as a potential treatment for COVID-19.

Under this agreement, the Japanese government will secure the antibody cocktail for the year 2021 for domestic supply if it is approved by the regulatory authority in Japan.

The antibody cocktail combining two virus-neutralizing antibodies, casirivimab and imdevimab, was developed by U.S.-based Regeneron for the potential treatment and prevention of COVID-19.

In August 2020, Roche and Regeneron announced a collaboration to develop, manufacture and distribute the antibody cocktail. In December of the same year, Chugai obtained development rights and exclusive commercialization rights in Japan for the antibody cocktail from Roche.

The COVID-19 pandemic, including the spread of infections of variants, has been persistent, and new treatment options continue to be pursued. The two potent virus-neutralizing antibodies administered together, bind non-competitively to the critical receptor binding domain of the virus spike protein, which may neutralize the activity against SARS-CoV-2 and protects against spike variants currently circulating in the human population