The Biden government announced on Friday an agreement to buy 100,000 doses of Eli Lilly’s monoclonal antibody cocktail, which was recently authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The move will increase the available offer of one of the few proven treatments for people with COVID-19. Antibody medications are authorized for use in patients at high risk of becoming seriously ill, but not yet hospitalized.
Under the agreement, the federal government will pay R $ 210 million for the initial purchase of up to 100 thousand courses for treatment of the therapy, which is a combination of the drug bamlanivimab, which was authorized last November for high-risk patients COVID-19, with a second medicine known as etesevimab.
The combination received emergency use authorization earlier this month, after the data showed that it reduced the risk of hospitalization and death by 70 percent.
The agreement includes flexibility to purchase up to a total of 1.2 million doses by November, but will likely depend on the course of the pandemic in the coming months.
The government has already pledged to buy a total of 1,450,000 doses of bamlanivimab alone, which includes more than 1 million doses already delivered and an agreement to deliver an additional 450,000 doses by the end of March.
The government has said it will provide neutralizing antibodies at no cost to patients, although health centers may charge a fee for administering the product.
To receive therapeutic antibody treatment, patients must contact their healthcare professionals.
Another antibody treatment manufactured by Regeneron is also authorized by the FDA. Regeneron is supplying the federal government with up to 1.5 million doses.
But despite its effectiveness and federal efforts to encourage use, antibody therapy has seen weak demand.
Supply was limited in the beginning, and ensuring that the drug reaches patients is a complex task. Since they are infusion drugs, antibodies need to be administered in the proper environment. The window for administering medications is small and patients need a quick diagnosis.
Getting patients to an infusion center or hospital is difficult, especially as the out of control pandemic is putting enormous pressure on hospitals and healthcare professionals. Experts call for a better system to ensure that drugs reach the patients who need them most.
Monoclonal antibody treatments had an advertising boost last fall, when they were given to President Trump
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Treatments were also given to high-profile Republicans and Trump allies, such as his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani
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