Amgen, Eli Lilly to Manufacture COVID-19 Treatments

Biopharma giants Amgen Inc. and Eli Lilly on Thursday announced an antibody manufacturing collaboration for potential COVID-19 treatments. The collaboration between Thousand Oaks-based Amgen and Lilly, headquartered in Indianapolis, will scale up production for multiple treatments still in development, the companies said. Should regulatory agencies around the world approve one or more of Lilly’s therapies, exponentially increasing manufacturing capacity is a crucial next step, Dr. Daniel Skoronsky, chief scientific officer at Lilly, said in a statement. “We are impressed with Lilly’s data, in particular the reduction in hospitalizations, and are enthusiastic about the potential for these neutralizing antibodies as a therapeutic for COVID-19,” Dr. David Reese, vice president of research and development at Amgen, added in the statement. “This is yet another example of the ways our industry is closely collaborating to combat this devastating disease and help patients around the world access new therapies,” said Esteban Santos, Amgen’s vice president of operations. Shares of Amgen (AMGN) closed Thursday up 32 cents, or a fraction of a percent, to $248.08 on the Nasdaq while the market closed down 1.3 percent.