Eli Lilly and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will partner to supply the drugmaker's COVID-19 antibody drug to low- and middle-income countries, Eli Lilly said Oct. 8.
Part of the Gates Foundations' COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator, an initiative to speed the development of and access to therapies for COVID-19, Eli Lilly said it will begin commercial manufacturing of its antibody drug in April 2021, pending regulatory approval, at Fujifilm manufacturing plant in Denmark.
Eli Lilly said it will make certain volumes of its antibody drug available to lower-income countries before April 2021 if it gets approval in time and will manufacture the drug in other facilities.
The drugmaker said the other companies it worked with to develop the drug have agreed to waive their royalties.
"To help end the COVID-19 pandemic it is vital that people, no matter where they live or their ability to pay, can access effective therapeutics," said Mark Suzman, CEO of the Gates Foundation. "It is encouraging to see Lilly stepping up and committing to making products more affordable and accessible to everyone who needs them. Until every country can effectively tackle COVID-19, no country will be safe."
Read the full news release here.