Shares of Vir Biotechnology Inc.
VIR,
+2.50%
gained 1.9% in premarket trading on Wednesday after the company and GlaxoSmithKline
GSK,
-0.04%
said the European Commission purchased 220,00 doses of their investigational COVID-19 antibody treatment. The therapy is a single-dose monoclonal antibody that is being tested as a treatment to ward off severe disease in some high-risk COVID-19 patients. The European Medicines Agency is currently reviewing the companies' application for sotrovimab. (Sotrovimab received emergency authorization in the U.S. in May, and it has also been authorized in Qatar, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates.) Vir's stock is up 36.0% for the year, while the S&P 500
SPX,
+0.09%
has gained 17.2%.