Washington, Feb 15 (FN Agency) US pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly won a more than $1 billion US army contract for the manufacture and distribution of the monoclonal antibody drug bebtelovimab in support of the national emergency response to COVID-19, the Defense Department said in a press release. Last week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave emergency authorization to bebtelovimab, an antibody that neutralizes the Omicron variant.
“Eli Lilly and Company [of] Indianapolis, Indiana, was awarded a $1,080,000,000… contract for manufacture, distribution and storage of Bebtelovimab in support of the national emergency response to COVID-19,” the release said on Monday. The company announced last week that the US and Eli Lilly had struck a deal to supply up to 600,000 doses of bebtelovimab for at least $720 million. Eli Lilly has said that monoclonal antibodies, such as bebtelovimab, may be associated with worse clinical outcomes when given to hospitalized patients with COVID-19 in need of high flow oxygen or mechanical ventilation.