Canada secures 26,000 doses of Lilly therapy to treat COVID-19 in $32.5m deal
pharmafile | November 25, 2020 | News story | Manufacturing and Production, Research and Development | COVID-19, Canada
The Canadian Government has partnered up with Eli Lilly to secure 26,000 doses of the company’s monoclonal antibody therapy bamlanivimab to treat citizens infected with COVID-19.
The US$32.5 million agreement was announced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and will cover the supply of the therapy over a three-month period from December to February. The therapy bamlanivimab was originally discovered at Vancouver-based biotech AbCellera using a blood sample taken from one of the first recovered COVID-19 patients in the US.
The deal includes the provision to secure “thousands” of additional doses for Canada on a monthly basis, but this must be in line with availability and medical need in the country. In the interests of fair distribution to patients, the Canadian Government will work with provincial and territorial partners to provide access to available doses.
“From the beginning of our collaboration with AbCellera in March, through the interim authorisation for the use of bamlanivimab in November, to an agreement on supply just days later, Lilly is bringing the full force of our expertise to meeting the challenge of COVID-19 in Canada, and around the world,” remarked Rhonda Pacheco, President and General Manager at Lilly Canada. “We’re grateful to the Government of Canada for their collaboration in working to quickly make this medicine available for Canadians.”
As noted by Pacheco, the previous week the Canadian Government’s health department Health Canada gave interim authorisation to Lilly’s therapy for COVID-19 patients who have not yet been hospitalised but are at risk of severe disease due to age or pre-existing conditions, marking the first Canadian approval of a drug to fight the virus.
Canada is currently facing more than 56,000 active cases of COVID-19, and has recorded over 11,600 deaths so far.
Matt Fellows
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