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# Lilly Covid Drug Pulled in 3 States Due to Variant
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/lilly-covid-drug-pulled-in-3-states-due-to-variant/
- Published: 2021-03-18T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T16:51:31.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Drugs, #legacy-id-D5148908

FDA acting commissioner **Janet Woodcock** told an American Medical Association Webinar 3/17 the federal government is no longer distributing Lilly’s monoclonal antibody bamlanivimab in Arizona, California, and Nevada because of the presence of a viral variant that is not susceptible to the drug. *Endpoints News* [reports](https://endpts.com/lillys-covid-19-drug-bamlanivimab-is-no-longer-distributed-in-3-states-because-of-a-variant/?ref=fdaweb.com) that Woodcock did not further explain the variant or the decision to stop the distribution.

Overall, she said, FDA remains uniquely positioned to screen monoclonals against different variants, and that’s been predictive of how and where the treatments will work.

The post says Woodcock acknowledged that the initial rollout of the monoclonal antibodies “wasn’t the greatest” because it was centered on a distribution model for Gilead’s remdesivir and hospitals were in no position to give out monoclonals. “We’re getting there,” she said, “but it’s taken quite a long time. Mass vaccination is hard enough but mass infusion is a real challenge for our healthcare system.”

CDER Office of Infectious Diseases director **John Farley** told the Webinar that the agency expects to soon broaden the definition of who is “high risk” and thus can receive monoclonal antibodies.