The Biden administration on Friday announced an agreement to buy 100,000 doses of Eli Lilly’s monoclonal antibody doll, which was recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The move will increase the availability of one of the few proven treatments for people with COVID-19. The antibody products are approved for use in patients at risk of becoming seriously ill but not yet hospitalized.
Under the agreement, the federal government will pay $ 210 million for the initial purchase of up to 100,000 treatment courses for the therapeutic drug, which is a combination of the drug bamlanivimab, which was approved last November for high-risk patients with COVID-19, with a second drug known as etesevimab.
The combination has received permission for emergency use earlier this month, after data showed, it reduced the risk of hospitalization and death by 70 percent.
The deal includes the flexibility to buy 1.2 million doses by November, but that will likely depend on the course of the pandemic over the next few months.
The government has already pledged to purchase a total of 1 450 000 doses of bamlanivimab alone, containing more than 1 million doses delivered, and an agreement to deliver 450 000 additional doses by the end of March.
The government has said it will make neutralizing antibodies available to patients, although healthcare facilities may charge a fee for administering the product.
To get a therapeutic treatment against antibodies, patients need to contact their healthcare providers.
Another antibody treatment manufactured by Regeneron is also approved by the FDA. Regeneron provides the federal government with up to 1.5 million doses.
But despite its effectiveness and federal efforts to encourage its use, there is a lack of demand for antibody therapy.
The supply was initially limited, and it is a complicated undertaking to make sure the drug gets patients. As these are infusions, antibodies must be administered correctly. The window for administering the drugs is small and patients need a quick diagnosis.
It is difficult to bring patients to an infusion center or hospital, especially since the out-of-pandemic puts hospitals and health workers under tremendous pressure. Experts have called for a better system to ensure that the drugs can reach the patients who need them most.
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