Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is (a) funding or (b) plans to fund the development of emerging covid-19 antibody therapy drugs (i) Ronapreve, (ii) Sotrovimab and (iii) AstraZeneca’s AZD7442.

We are monitoring clinical trials and development of monoclonal antibodies including Ronapreve, Sotrovimab and AZD7442.

Ronapreve was part of the Government supported RECOVERY trial and in August the Medicines and althcare products Regulatory Agency approved Ronapreve as the first neutralising monoclonal antibody combination product for use in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 in the United Kingdom. While we have not funded the development of Sotrovimab or AZD7442, company-funded trials for AZD7442 were prioritised by the National Institute for Health Research as urgent public health COVID-19 studies.