FRANKFURT (Reuters) – AstraZeneca said its antibody cocktail against COVID-19 would – unlike its vaccine – be priced commercially as it negotiates supply contracts with governments around the globe.
“We are looking at a commercial pricing strategy. That is part of our negotiations with governments,” Iskra Reic, Astra’s Executive Vice President for vaccines and immune therapies, said in a media call on Thursday.
She added that the group’s main objective was to make the shot affordable and broadly available.
AstraZeneca earlier cemented its lead in bringing a preventative COVID-19 shot to market, saying its antibody cocktail offered 83% protection over six months, another possible weapon in the fight against the pandemic.
Chief Executive Pascal Soriot said on the call that the antibody treatment was more complicated to produce than a vaccine but that there would be enough production capacity around the world to meet demand.
(Reporting by Ludwig Burger and Pushkala Aripaka; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
