On Apr. 2, 2020, Emergent BioSolutions announced it had entered into a formal partnership with the U.S. government to expedite development of a plasma-derived therapy for patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Emergent had received $14.5 million from the BARDA in support of its COVID-HIG program, one of two hyperimmune development programs announced by Emergent in March.

COVID-HIG was a candidate human hyperimmune product being developed as a potential treatment for COVID-19 in severe hospitalized patients and high-risk, acute symptomatic patients to prevent progression to severe symptoms. COVID-HIG will be manufactured using plasma donations from people who have recovered from COVID-19 with antibodies to SARS-CoV-2.