EU signs contract for monoclonal antibody Covid treatment

WHO prioritises access to diabetes and cancer treatments for children

Image: RCSI

The EU has signed contract for the supply of monoclonal antibody treatment for Covid-19 with pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly.

The contract marks the latest development in this first portfolio of five promising therapeutics announced by the Commission under the EU Covid-19 Therapeutics Strategy in June 2021. The medicine is currently under rolling review by the European Medicines Agency. Eighteen Member States have signed up to the joint procurement for the purchase of up to 220,000 treatments.

Stella Kyriakides, Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, said, “Over 73 percent of the EU adult population is now fully vaccinated, and this rate will still increase. But vaccines cannot be our only response to Covid-19.

“People still continue to be infected and fall ill. We need to continue our work to prevent illness with vaccines and at the same time ensure that we can treat it with therapeutics.

“With today’s signature, we conclude our third procurement and deliver on our commitment under the EU Therapeutics Strategy to facilitate access to state-of-the-art medicines for COVID-19 patients,” she added on September 22.

Monoclonal antibodies are proteins conceived in the laboratory that mimic the immune system’s ability to fight the coronavirus. They fuse to the spike protein and block the virus’s attachment to the human cells.


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Deirdre Tynan

Deirdre Tynan is an award-winning journalist who enjoys bringing the best in news reporting to Spain’s largest English-language newspaper, Euro Weekly News. She has previously worked at The Mirror, Ireland on Sunday and for news agencies, media outlets and international organisations in America, Europe and Asia. A huge fan of British politics and newspapers, Deirdre is equally fascinated by the political scene in Madrid and Sevilla. She moved to Spain in 2018 and is based in Jaen.

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