WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Drugmaker Eli Lilly and Co said on Friday that the U.S. government had agreed to purchase at least 100,000 doses of its recently authorized $ 200 million COVID-19 double antibody cocktail, with doses to be delivered. until the end of March.
The U.S. government will have the option to purchase up to 1.1 million additional doses by November 25, the company said.
Lilly said she would start sending those doses right away.
The therapy contains two antibodies bamlanivimab and etesevimab and obtained emergency use authorization in the United States earlier this month.
Like the dual REGN-COV2 antibody therapy of rival Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc, Lilly’s combination was authorized for the treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 in patients at high risk of progressing to severe illness or hospitalization.
Lilly’s therapy helped to reduce the risk of hospitalization and death in patients with COVID-19 by 70%, according to initial test data released in January.
Despite government efforts to encourage the use of treatments to help keep people out of hospitals, demand for therapies is weak.
Health systems say they have been slow to increase the use of antibodies due to extra levels of complexity during the pandemic, including requirements for rapid diagnostic times and the need to isolate infectious patients.
The United States has already agreed to buy 1.45 million doses of bamlanivimab alone, Lilly said, adding that 1 million doses have already been delivered and an additional 450,000 doses will be delivered by the end of March.
(Reporting by Manojna Maddipatla in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
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