The Biden administration on Friday announced an agreement to buy 100,000 doses of Eli Lilly’s monoclonal antibody cocktail that was recently authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The move will increase the available supply of one of the few proven treatments for people with COVID-19. Antibody medications are authorized for use in patients at high risk of serious illness but who are not yet hospitalized.
Under the agreement, the federal government will pay $ 210 million for the initial purchase of up to 100,000 courses of treatment, which is a combination of the drug bamlanivimab, which was authorized last November for patients with COVID-19. high risk, with a second drug known as etesevimab.
The combination received emergency use authorization earlier this month, after data showed it reduced the risk of hospitalization and death by 70 percent.
The deal includes flexibility to buy up to a total of 1.2 million doses by November, but it will likely depend on the course of the pandemic over the coming months.
The government has already pledged to buy a total of 1,450,000 doses of bamlanivimab alone, which includes more than a million doses that have been administered 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 healthcare facilities may charge a fee for administering the product.
To receive antibody therapy, patients should contact their healthcare providers.
Another antibody treatment manufactured by Regeneron is also authorized by the FDA. Regeneron supplies the federal government with up to 1.5 million doses.
But despite its effectiveness and federal efforts to encourage use, antibody therapy has seen little demand.
Supply was limited at first and making sure the drug reaches patients is a complex commitment. Because they are infusion drugs, antibodies need to be administered in the right place. The window for administering medications is small and patients need a quick diagnosis.
Getting patients to an infusion center or hospital is difficult, especially because the out-of-control pandemic is putting massive pressure on hospitals and health care workers. Experts have called for a better system to make sure drugs can reach the patients who need them most.
Monoclonal antibody treatments increased publicity last fall when they were first administered President Trump
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