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ELI LILLY RELEASES COVID-19 ANTIBODY TREATMENT
Writer / Christy Heitger-Ewing Photography Provided
After a year that feels like it’s been full of upsets and letdowns, news that Eli Lilly and Company has produced a COVID-19 antibody treatment, for which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted emergency authorization, is a reason to celebrate. The treatment stems from one of the first coronavirus survivors from the Pacific Northwest.
“When your body has a virus that enters it, your immune system recognizes it and creates antibodies that help your body to rid itself of the virus,” says Janelle Sabo, Eli Lilly’s COVID-19 therapeutics platform leader. “We were able to isolate one of those antibodies and scale it up.” When introduced to the human body, this antibody binds to the COVID-19 virus and helps neutralize it, so that it clears from the body. Once Eli Lilly was granted 24 / MARCH 2021
approval by the FDA, the U.S. government bought a supply that was shipped to Eli Lilly’s wholesaler. Every week, the U.S. government and state health departments across the country decide where the therapy should be shipped. Currently the therapy, called bamlanivimab, is at various locations across the U.S. “We know bamlanivimab is in several hospitals in Indiana, and patients have already been dosed with it,” Sabo says.
