DoD, HHS Sign $375M Procurement Deal for Eli Lilly COVID-19 Drug

Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE: LLY) has received a potential $375M contract from the departments of Defense and Health and Human Services to initially supply 300K doses of bamlanivimab, an investigational monoclonal antibody drug for COVID-19.

The agreement includes an option for the federal government to buy through the end of June 2021 up to 650K more doses of the experimental LY-CoV555 treatment worth approximately $812.5M, DoD said Wednesday.

“This agreement with Eli Lilly is part of Operation Warp Speed’s efforts to position the federal government to distribute potential therapeutics, allowing faster distribution if trials are successful,” said HHS Secretary Alex Azar.

Eli Lilly is conducting Phase 3 trials of bamlanivimab in addition to clinical studies being carried out as part of the Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines partnership announced in April.

The Food and Drug Administration is evaluating LY-CoV555 for use in outpatient care and the federal government will distribute the drug once it receives FDA approval. Bamlanivimab is designed to weaken the ability of the virus to infect cells in the human body by binding to the virus’ certain proteins.

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