With the increase of multiple variants of Covid-19 across the United States, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will limit the use of monoclonal antibody treatments developed by Regeneron and Eli Lilly due to concerns the medications are not effective against these new strains.
Europe’s drug regulator said on March 11 it had initiated a rolling review of U.S.-based Eli Lilly’s antibodies to treat Covid-19, days after saying their combination could be used in patients at high risk of progressing to severe illness.
Newly announced data from Eli Lilly’s Phase III BLAZE-1 clinical trial show a combination of two of the company’s monoclonal antibodies, bamlanivimab (LY-CoV555) and etesevimab (LY-CoV016), significantly reduced the risk of hospitalization and death in high-risk patients with newly diagnosed coronavirus disease 2019.
Drugmaker Eli Lilly said on Feb. 26 the U.S. government agreed to buy at least 100,000 doses of the company’s newly authorized COVID-19 dual antibody cocktail for $210 million, with doses to be delivered through March-end.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to a combination of Eli Lilly and AbCellera’s monoclonal antibody bamlanivimab and the Lilly antibody etesevimab for mild to moderate Covid-19.
Laboratory testing found that Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s Covid-19 antibody cocktail can combat a coronavirus variant first found in South Africa, but a similar drug from Eli Lilly and Co. is inactive against it, according to a study.
Vir Biotechnology, Eli Lilly and GlaxoSmithKline struck a three-way collaborative deal to evaluate Vir’s investigational monoclonal antibody VIR-7831 in combination with Lilly’s bamlanivimab in low-risk patients with mild to moderate Covid-19.
Eli Lilly and Co. will move a new Covid-19 antibody therapy to human trials targeting a coronavirus variant that was first found in South Africa, the U.S. drugmaker said.
Protecting the most vulnerable, Eli Lilly’s bamlanivimab significantly reduced Covid-19 risk for nursing home residents in a Phase III trial.
U.S. hospitals have been slow to embrace Covid-19 antibody drugs from Eli Lilly and Co. and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. that were authorized to reduce the risk of hospitalization, U.S. officials said.
