We’re excited about COVID-19 vaccines—but there have been major breakthroughs on therapeutics, too, which are important to saving lives in the pandemic. On the latest episode of the I AM BIO Podcast, BIO’s Dr. Michelle McMurry-Heath discussed two of them with Ajay Nirula, Eli Lilly’s VP of Immunology.

There are 580+ COVID-19 therapeutics in development—and they’ll be essential while we wait for vaccines to be approved and distributed. (You can see everything in development at BIO’s COVID-19 pipeline tracker.) 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently issued emergency use authorization (EUA) for two:bamlanivimab and baricitinib, both developed by BIO member Eli Lilly. 

What’s an EUA? It’s a “pragmatic path” for use of a drug during an emergency such as a pandemic, explained Nirula. “Even though you may not have all the data that would serve as the basis for a traditional approval, you have a strong body of data that suggests there could be benefit for a therapy.”   

For mild to moderate cases of COVID-19,bamlanivimab is a “highly potent neutralizing antibody” shown to reduce hospitalization rates from 6% to under 2% when given within a few days of the onset of symptoms. 

For more serious cases,baricitinib can be used in combination with Gilead’s remdesivir to treat patients with respiratory distress. It’s a repurposed rheumatoid arthritis drug, which Lilly found (using AI) could potentially treat the inflammatory stage of COVID-19. 

The company will have 1 million antibody doses available by the end of the year. “Lilly realized that the need was going to be very large globally for antibody therapy if we were able to generate some evidence of efficacy,” said Nirula. “So, we really started significant manufacturing activities at risk much earlier in the year so we could have as much antibody as was feasible” by the time of EUA or approval.

What will 2021 look like? “We’re going to see an evolution where we’ll incorporate some of these scientific advances, which include the great breakthroughs in vaccines that we’re starting to see evidence of, but also the important role that therapeutics will play,” he said. 

And in the meantime: “Our behavior is going to continue to be very important over the next year. So, I think we’ve got to be very rigorous in terms of taking the protective measures against spreading the virus, which include continued use of face masks and limiting sizes of gatherings and so forth,” he concluded. “And hopefully by the latter half of 2021, we’ll see a world that’s starting to get back to a little closer to what we’re used to before the pandemic.” 

Listen to the whole thing to learn more about the treatments and how Lilly will get them to patients who need them, including the least-developed countries.

Get the episode at www.bio.org/podcast or wherever you get your podcast fix, including Apple, Google, or Spotify.

More Health Care News: 

CNN: CDC COVID-19 vaccine advisers call emergency meeting to vote on who gets one first
“The CDC's Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices wants to have advice out to the public ahead of any decision from the US Food and Drug Administration about emergency authorization of a vaccine.” 

CNN: Moderna to apply today for FDA authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine
"The company will ask the FDA to review an expanded data set showing the vaccine is 94.1% effective at preventing Covid-19 and 100% effective at preventing severe cases of the disease."

Yahoo!Finance: UK to approve Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine ‘within days,’ secures 2m more doses from Moderna
“Britain is gathering speed in executing a vaccine plan. It is on track to become the first Western country to deploy a COVID-19 vaccine.”

Here’s some news you might have missed while you were getting ready for Thanksgiving: President-elect Joe Biden will appoint former Secretary of State John Kerry as “climate czar” to lead America’s climate change policy. Here’s what we know and why it matters.

Over the last four years, the Trump administration withdrew from the Paris Agreement, which aims to slow and halt the global temperature rise, and rolled back more than 80 environmental regulations and rules. 

Biden is expected to reverse course, by recommitting to the Paris Agreement and putting the country on track to a 100% clean energy economy and net-zero emissions by 2050, according to his climate plan.

To lead the charge, John Kerry will serve as Biden’s special envoy for climate, “a Cabinet-level official in Biden's administration [who] will sit on the National Security Council,” reported CNN. (As Secretary of State, Kerry helped negotiate the Paris Agreement.) 

But this is just the first step. To meet the goals of a 100% clean energy economy and stronger, more resilient nation, we need policy that supports the development and growth of biotech innovation—including sustainable agriculture and aviation fuels and biobased manufacturing.

BIO looks forward to working with the new administration and Congress on advancing these goals—and America's bioeconomy.

Show your support for the bioeconomy and the climate. Ask your lawmakers to support the Growing Climate Solutions Act, which will make it easier for the agriculture sector to join the fight against climate change and boost rural economies.

President Trump’s Monday: Lunch with the vice president. Meanwhile, “Canada blocks bulk exports of some prescription drugs in response to Trump import plan,” reports Reuters.

President-elect Biden’s Monday: Yesterday, he announced an all-women senior communications staff and “is expected to roll out a diverse group to lead his economic team this coming week,” says CNN. 

What’s Happening on Capitol Hill: Congress gets back to work.