Coronavirus UK: Britain may pull out of deal for a million doses of AstraZeneca’s antibody drug

The UK may pull out of plans to buy a million doses of AstraZeneca‘s experimental Covid antibody drug, it was claimed today.

Ministers announced an order for the doses from the British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant in November and said the final deal would depend on clinical trial results.

But Britain is now considering a U-turn, two sources familiar with negotiations told Bloomberg.

The UK’s agreement was non-binding and it is having massive success with the vaccine rollout, with two thirds of adults now immunised and deaths and hospital admissions expected to be suppressed by the jabs in any third wave.

Officials are reconsidering the possible role of the antibody cocktails, known as monoclonal antibodies, which inject infected patients with the immune cells it would take them weeks to make naturally.

Britain is already on a mission to find antiviral drugs to fight the virus at home, with Boris Johnson pledging simple Covid drugs will be available by autumn this year. 

AstraZeneca’s trials in the UK have not yet finished and the results are expected in the coming weeks. The Department for Health and Social Care and AstraZeneca did not respond to comment requests before publication.

The UK may pull out of plans to order 1million doses of AstraZeneca’s antibody drug, it has been revealed

Monoclonal antibodies are lab-produced molecules that mimic human antibodies — disease-fighting proteins made by the immune system

Monoclonal antibody treatments are different from vaccines because they are used to treat people already ill with the virus rather than protecting them before infection. 

But treatments based on the disease-fighting proteins, which are more expensive than jabs, have also shown promise in preventing infection.

They work by pumping antibodies — natural virus-fighting molecules — into people to boost their immune system.  

AstraZeneca’s AZD7442 treatment uses an IV drip to infuse a combination of two antibodies into a patient’s blood stream. Using two long-acting antibodies (LAABs) is thought to make the treatment better against different strains of the virus.

It is developed by harvesting working antibodies from people who have already had coronavirus and cloning them in a lab. 

A phase III trial on 5,000 people — including 1,000 from nine sites in the UK — began in November. 

Speaking at the time, Business Secretary Alok Sharma confirmed Britain had made a preliminary agreement with AstraZeneca for 1million doses pending trial results.

He said: ‘I am very proud that the UK is the first country in the world to begin this invaluable study, and that a fifth of trial volunteers will be from Britain – a testament to our fantastic life sciences sector and the willingness of our people to come forward to help others… 

‘That is why we have procured 1million doses of AstraZeneca’s long-acting antibody treatment if it meets robust safety and effectiveness standards.’

Despite the UK reconsidering its order, the US announced an agreement with AstraZeneca in March to increase its order by 500,000 doses, taking its total up to 700,000.

There are currently three monoclonal antibody treatments that have been given emergency use authorisation in the US.

But there is not yet robust data showing their efficacy against new variants, which have become dominant in many parts of the world.

Antibodies are super-specific to the shape of the virus that triggered them, and ones developed to fight the original Wuhan variant, for example, are less effective against the South African, Brazilian or Indian strains of the virus.  

Monoclonal antibody therapies approved in the US include pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly’s bamlanivimab and etesevimab.

Another treatment approved by American regulators and made by the firm Regeneron was used on Donald Trump last year during his Covid battle, and may have helped the former President recover.

No antibody therapies have so far been approved in the UK, where the only hospital treatments for Covid patients are steroids for people already on ventilators or with dangerously low oxygen levels. 

NHS doctors can also give hospitalised coronavirus patients arthritis drugs alongside the steroid dexamethasone, which studies have shown can cut the risk of dying by up to half. 

The treatment is different to a vaccine because it does not train the body to develop immunity and a vaccine can’t be used when someone is already sick.

Vaccines usually inject someone with a part of the virus so their body can learn how to fight it in a safe environment by being exposed to it for real. 

The antibody therapy would be limited and would not lead to the body making more of its own antibodies.

Monoclonal antibodies are already being used to treat tetanus, Ebola and diphtheria and are described as ‘one of the most powerful tools in modern medicine’.