(Bloomberg) — The Biden administration expects to take delivery of 4 million courses of Covid-19 treatments by the end of January, according to officials familiar with the matter, sharply ramping up therapies for the disease as the omicron variant spreads.
The treatments include a monoclonal antibody product, pre-exposure preventive drugs for immunocompromised people, and new antiviral pills awaiting Food and Drug Administration authorization, the officials said. That authorization is expected as soon as Wednesday.
The treatments will give doctors a larger arsenal to fight severe coronavirus as the U.S. endures another surge in cases driven by omicron. Infections are rising nationally, and President Joe Biden warned Tuesday that while vaccinated Americans might be infected in “large numbers,” they will likely experience only mild disease while the unvaccinated pay the heaviest price.
Yet the president gave little hint of the coming stockpile of therapies, instead pleading with Americans to get vaccinated in order to all but eliminate the risk severe Covid-19 in the first place.
“Those who are not vaccinated are causing hospitals to become overrun again,” he said in a speech warning about the omicron variant. “This is a critical moment. We also have more tools than we’ve ever had before. We’re ready. We’ll get through this.”
Omicron has rapidly become the dominant strain in the U.S., accounting for 73% of new cases the week ending Dec. 18, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The seven-day moving average of U.S. cases is 149,000, more than double two weeks earlier, data from the CDC show. New hospital admissions have leveled off, but are rising in New York, which was worst hit early on by Omicron. Biden spoke Tuesday with the state’s governor.
Variety of Treatments
The administration has sought to buy a variety of FDA-authorized therapeutics to ensure a mix of effective treatments, part of what the administration is calling its “medicine cabinet,” the officials said. They asked not to be identified because the two antiviral pills are not yet authorized by regulators.
The Food and Drug Administration earlier this month authorized AstraZeneca Plc’s Evusheld, a pre-exposure prevention treatment for the immunocompromised and other people who respond poorly to vaccines. The administration believes that all data so far suggests it works against omicron, the officials said.
The administration also expects to allocate about another 300,000 courses of GlaxoSmithKline Plc’s monoclonal antibody treatment by the end of January — the only such drug they think has shown effectiveness against omicron — and is in talks to purchase 600,000 more, the officials said.
The FDA is poised to authorize the two antiviral pills this week, perhaps as soon as Wednesday: Pfizer Inc.’s Paxlovid and Merck & Co.’s molnupiravir. The authorizations could come with recommendations on which pills are best suited for different populations.
Altogether, that would give the U.S. two antiviral pills, one preventative treatment and one monoclonal antibody treatment that the administration believes are effective against omicron.
4 Million Courses
The officials said the U.S. should have nearly 400,000 courses of Merck’s pill available upon its authorization and 65,000 courses of Pfizer’s pill. By the end of January, the government expects to have received a total of about 3 million Merck courses — its entire order — and 250,000 Pfizer courses, the officials said.
The production of Pfizer’s pill is expected to steadily escalate, with the U.S. receiving its full order of 10 million courses by July, they said.
And the U.S. expects nearly a half-million more doses of AstraZeneca’s preventative treatment by the end of January, the people said.
The treatments will be made available for free to states on a per-capita basis, the officials said.
Some will also be sent to federally qualified health centers in a bid to ensure access to treatments isn’t disproportionate by race or ethnicity, the officials said.
Biden’s administration has offered Pfizer the support of the U.S. government if it runs into any production issues with its pill, including use of wartime powers under the Defense Production Act, the officials said. So far, Pfizer hasn’t needed any intervention, and the biggest hurdle is just the pill’s lengthy, intensive manufacturing process.
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