Lilly Antibody Treatment Lands Canadian Authorization
(photo courtesy of Eli Lilly and Co.)
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe COVID-19 antibody therapy developed by Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE: LLY) has been granted authorization from Health Canada. The authorization comes less than two weeks after the therapy, known as bamlanivimab, received a similar designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Health Canada has authorized bamlanivimab as a treatment for adult and pediatric patients 12 years of age or older with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 who weigh at least 40kg and are at high risk of progressing to severe COVID-19 illness and/or hospitalization.
The Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA was granted for the same use.
“This authorization in Canada furthers our goal of making bamlanivimab available to patients who need it around the world and is evidence of the strong collaboration between industry and governments to get COVID-19 medicines to people as quickly as possible,” said Dave Ricks, chief executive officer of Lilly. “We are proud that this treatment…will soon be available to help people in Canada combat this pandemic.”
The Canadian authorization was based on data from a Phase 2 clinical trial of the therapy in patients with recently-diagnosed, mild-to-moderate COVID-19.
The therapy, also known as LY-CoV555, was developed in conjunction with Vancouver-based AbCellera. The two companies announced their partnership in March to develop antibody treatments to treat COVID-19.
“As a Canadian company, we are proud to contribute to the global fight against COVID-19 and hope our efforts will help people in Canada and around the world in the face of this medical emergency,” said Dr. Carl Hansen, CEO of AbCellera. “We applaud Lilly for bringing bamlanivimab to patients at record speed and its commitment to ensure treatment access for patients with high unmet needs, no matter where they live.”
Lilly says it plans to manufacture up to one million doses of bamlanivimab by the end of the year.