U.S. stops distribution of Lilly's COVID-19 therapy due to impact of variants

The U.S. government has stopped distribution of Eli Lilly and Co's COVID-19 antibody therapy, bamlanivimab, due to the impact of rapidly spreading coronavirus variants on the drug's efficacy.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on Wednesday it stopped distribution of the therapy due to a sustained increase in SARS-CoV-2 viral variants in the United States that are resistant to bamlanivimab when administered alone. "We recognize the U.S. government has made the decision to no longer allow direct ordering of bamlanivimab alone due to concerns about the prevalence of the California B.1.427/B.1.429 and New York B.1.526 variants of SARS-CoV-2," Lilly said in an email to Reuters.