(Reuters) -Eli Lilly and Co said on Tuesday that the U.S. government bought 614,000 additional doses of its COVID-19 antibody therapy for $1.29 billion.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in September revised its emergency use authorization for the company’s cocktail, bamlanivimab and etesevimab, to include for use in patients who have been exposed to the virus and are at high risk for progression to severe disease.
Under the deal, Lilly will supply a minimum of 400,000 doses of its treatment by Dec. 31 and the rest by Jan. 31.
The new purchase is estimated to add $840 million to the company’s 2021 revenue forecast and about 25 cents of additional earnings per share, Lilly said.
The U.S. government had bought 388,000 additional doses of Lilly’s antibody therapy in September, when infections surged due to the fast-spreading Delta variant
The treatment is also authorized for use in people 12 years and above with mild-to-moderate infection and at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19.
(Reporting by Dania Nadeem in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva and Sriraj Kalluvila)
