Tarrytown's Regeneron Working With Feds On Coronavirus Treatment

TARRYTOWN, NY — Hudson Valley-based Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. is developing treatments for the 2019 new coronavirus. Officials at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said it is expanding an existing collaboration with Regeneron to work on solving the problem that the virus is posing around the world.

Rick Bright, Ph.D., deputy assistant secretary for preparedness and response, said the department has been working in a public-private capacity with Regeneron, which is located in Tarrytown, since 2014 and feels they can move rapidly to respond to new global health threats.

"Emerging infectious diseases can present serious threats to our nation's health security," he said.

The team is reviewing potential vaccines, treatments and diagnostics from public and private sectors, particularly those in development for Middle East respiratory syndrome or severe acute respiratory syndrome, to identify promising candidates they can develop to detect, protect against or treat the new coronavirus.

SEE ALSO: Regeneron's Ebola Therapy Shows Promise, Medical Officials Say

Regeneron CEO Leonard Schleifer said his teams are working on several approaches and one of them one could be in the testing phase in three to six months, News 12 reported, which means human testing could start by this summer.

More than 73,000 cases of the disease have been reported worldwide. More than 1,800 people have died from the disease, mostly in China.

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