Lilly Modifies Purchase Agreement with U.S. for COVID Therapies

Eli Lilly and Co. made changes to the purchase agreements with the U.S. government for its neutralizing antibody therapies to treat COVID-19, previously authorized for emergency use. As part of Lilly's planned transition, the company will only supply bamlanivimab and etesevimab together.

Additionally, the bamlanivimab and etesevimab agreement has been modified to enable the supply of etesevimab to complement doses of bamlanivimab the U.S. government already purchased, some of which have already been delivered to sites of care. This terminates the purchase agreement for bamlanivimab alone and cancels the remaining 350,856 doses that were scheduled to be delivered by the end of March 2021.

Lilly's bamlanivimab was the first neutralizing monoclonal antibody to receive emergency use authorization from the U.S. FDA. Lilly subsequently developed bamlanivimab and etesevimab for administration together, in order to meet the potential challenge of SARS-CoV-2 variants likely to resist treatment with either monoclonal antibody used alone.

Bamlanivimab and etesevimab together and bamlanivimab alone are authorized under Emergency Use Authorization only for the duration of the declaration that circumstances exist justifying the authorization.