U.S. Agrees To Pay Eli Lilly $375 Million for 300,000 Doses Of Coronavirus Antibody Drug

The U.S. government has agreed to pay Eli Lilly $375 million to supply 300,00 doses of its experimental antibody drug that will be used to treat the coronavirus, the company announced Wednesday.

According to CNBC, the agreement is for delivery over the two months following an emergency use authorization from the FDA. The deal also provides the option for the government to purchase 650,000 more doses through June 30th.

Eli Lilly’s CEO David Ricks praised the company’s efforts in a statement:”Lilly has leveraged our deep scientific capability to fight this pandemic and we are proud of our efforts to develop potential medicines to combat COVID-19.”

The company submitted a request to the FDA for emergency authorization of its drug for people with mild to moderate Covid-19 in early October. If authorization is granted, the U.S. government has already committed that patients will have no out-of-pocket costs for the medicine, although health-care facilities may charge a fee for the product’s administration, the company said.

Lilly said it anticipates manufacturing up to 1 million doses of its drug by the end of 2020, with 100,000 doses ready to ship within days of the authorization.

This agreement came days after the company revealed a trial of the drug failed to show benefits in hospitalized patients. Eli Lilly said it is confident the drug is helpful to those earlier in the course of the virus.