Lilly, UnitedHealth Partner in Study of Bamlanivimab in Covid-19

By Michael Dabaie

Eli Lilly & Co. and UnitedHealth Group Inc. said they are in a partnership to conduct a study under real-world conditions of bamlanivimab, or LY-CoV555, in high-risk, Covid-19 infected individuals.

The study will treat a large, diverse population of high-risk individuals for Covid-19 with bamlanivimab under real-world conditions with a goal of reducing the severity of illness and hospitalizations, the companies said Friday.

Bamlanivimab recently received emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for treatment of mild to moderate Covid-19 patients at high risk for progressing to severe Covid-19 and hospitalization, Lilly said.

The trial will evaluate bamlanivimab versus a control in people that meet the emergency use authorization criteria.

It will draw on both UnitedHealth's UnitedHealthcare health benefits business as well as its Optum health services business to detect and treat high-risk symptomatic patients who test positive for Covid-19, including daily symptom tracking, in-home SARS-CoV-2 testing and in-home infusion services.

"While bamlanivimab is authorized for emergency use based on the efficacy and safety data accumulated to date, larger pragmatic studies in diverse populations can help us further understand the efficacy and safety of SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies in real world settings," said Daniel Skovronsky, Lilly's chief scientific officer and president of Lilly Research Laboratories.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 04, 2020 08:36 ET (13:36 GMT)

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