Eli Lilly announces 650,000 additional doses of bamlanivimab purchased by US government to treat Covid-19

Bamlanivimab recently received emergency use authorization for the treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 in patients who are at high risk for progressing to severe COVID-19 and/or hospitalization.

“Given the significant increase in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in the U.S., we are doing everything possible to quickly provide more bamlanivimab doses to Americans,” said David A. Ricks, Lilly’s chairman and CEO.

“We are proud of our work to deploy significant manufacturing capacity and remain committed to enabling widespread and equitable access to bamlanivimab. The U.S. government’s effort to allocate bamlanivimab around the country is critical to ensuring it reaches patients who need it the most.”

This purchase brings the total doses purchased by the U.S. government to 950,000. As previously announced by the U.S. government, Americans will have no out-of-pocket costs for the medicine, although healthcare facilities may charge a fee for the product’s administration. The federal government is responsible for the allocation of bamlanivimab.

Weekly allocation decisions will be proportionally based on confirmed COVID-19 cases in each state and territory over the previous seven days, based on data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Protect data collection platform. Weekly allocations can be viewed at this online federal dashboard. State and territorial health departments determine which sites of care receive the allocated doses.

Lilly has a robust, global supply chain in place to produce bamlanivimab, with numerous manufacturing sites worldwide. Lilly continues to manufacture bamlanivimab for use around the world, and the supply is expected to increase substantially in 2021. Global allocations will be made based on Lilly’s guiding principles, which aim to ensure access for patients with high unmet need, no matter where they live.

In 2020, the estimated impact of the updated purchase agreement to the guidance range provided in Lilly’s earnings release on October 27, 2020 is approximately $500 million of additional revenue and approximately 25 cents of additional earnings per share.

Bamlanivimab has not been approved by the FDA for any use.  It is not known if bamlanivimab is safe and effective for the treatment of COVID-19.

Source: Company Press Release