Canada has granted interim authorization to Eli Lilly's antibody drug for treating COVID-19 in patients who are not hospitalized but are at risk of serious illness because of their age or other conditions, the drug-maker said on Friday. The news comes weeks after the treatment, bamlanivimab, was given U.S. emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration for helping newly diagnosed, high-risk patients avoid hospitalization. The Health Canada authorization was based on a clinical study in patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19, where patients treated with bamlanivimab showed reduced viral load and rates of symptoms and hospitalization. The drug is a monoclonal antibody — a widely used class of biotech drugs — which in this case is a manufactured copy of an antibody the human body creates to fight infections. WATCH | How well will COVID-19 vaccines work in the real world?

Source: CBC News November 22, 2020 22:18 UTC