https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/03/emergent-biosolutions-gets-14-5m-in-federal-funding-to-expedite-covid-19-plasma-therapy-development/

Last week, we spoke to the head of Emergent BioSolutions’ Therapeutics Business Unit Dr. Laura Saward about her company’s work developing plasma-based potential treatments for COVID-19. Now, the company announced that it has received $14.5 million in funding from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), to speed the development of one of its treatment candidates.

Emergent BioSolutions has been working to develop two different kinds of plasma-based treatments for use in treating patients who have already contracted the coronavirus and subsequently the COVID-19 respiratory disease that it leads to. The company is developing one treatment based on horse-derived plasma, which has benefits in terms of being able to be produced in large volumes, and human-derived plasma, which is less likely to trigger a negative immune response in patients.