INDIANAPOLIS — A combination therapy developed by Eli Lilly to treat COVID-19 patients has received an emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration.
The use of bamlanivimab and etesevimab together is administered to recently diagnosed COVID-19 patients with a mild to moderate case of the virus who are at higher risk to develop a more severe form of COVID-19.
The therapy is administered within 10 days of a patient recognizing symptoms of COVID-19 and after a positive test for the virus. It is given as a single injection.
Lilly reported Tuesday that the FDA also approved infusion times as short as 16 minutes for bamlanivimab alone and 21 minutes for the combination therapy. That's down from 60 minutes, which was the previously authorized time.
A study of 1,200 patients released late last month showed a 70 percent drop in COVID-related hospitalizations and deaths — and not a single death in patients who took both drugs. However, several patients who received a placebo during the study did pass away.
Lilly plans to manufacture more than 250,000 doses by the end of the fiscal quarter in March and up to 1 million doses by the middle of the year.