Invivyd has teamed up with professional football coach Jim Harbaugh to tackle COVID-19 complacency. The biotech, which has seen sales of its COVID-19 product fall well short of expectations, is working with Harbaugh to raise awareness of how immunocompromised people can reduce the threat of the virus.
COVID-19 vaccines turned the tide in the fight against SARS-CoV-2, reducing a life-threatening pathogen to a mere inconvenience for most people. However, immunocompromised people can have a weak response to vaccines. Long-acting molecules that hit SARS-CoV-2 offer an alternative, potentially complementary way to provide protection for those individuals, representing an opportunity that companies like Invivyd and AstraZeneca have pursued.
Invivyd won FDA emergency use authorization for its product, Pemgarda, in March and set itself the goal of generating $150 million to $200 million in net product revenue in 2024. But preliminary fourth-quarter results shared this week suggest revenues will come in at around $25 million for the full year.
The company has identified Harbaugh as someone who may be able to help turn the game in its favor. Harbaugh, the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers, said in a statement that COVID-19 “continues to sideline many people” and discussed ways to counter the threat.
“While COVID-19 may seem like old news to some, many Americans continue to get sick, are hospitalized and are dying from COVID-19, despite many of us having been vaccinated. The extent of damage to our bodies in the long-term is still unknown,” the coach said. “The good news is for many there are options other than vaccines.”
Harbaugh encouraged people to visit Invivyd's “Expand Their Options” site to learn more. The website features recent data on the number of hospitalizations, deaths and intensive care admissions from COVID-19 to make the case that SARS-CoV-2 is still a problem, before explaining how immunocompromised people can mitigate the risks through strategies including multilayer protection.
As the website explains, multilayer protection is the combination of active protection from a vaccine and passive immunity from a monoclonal antibody. Visitors to the website are encouraged to ask their doctor about getting extra protection and directed toward resources with more information.
The website is part of a broader push to raise awareness that Invivyd said will highlight Harbaugh “in live and social media initiatives.”
Timothy Lee, chief commercial officer at Invivyd, said on an earnings call in August that the company was planning “commercial messaging in the digital and traditional domains to drive healthcare provider awareness and immunocompromised population awareness.”