Two years ago, Eli Lilly linked up with Egypt-based generics maker Eva Pharma to help address insulin needs in Africa. Now, the drugmakers have partnered again, this time to expand access to Lilly’s JAK inhibitor Olumiant (baricitinib).
With a “first of its kind” voluntary licensing agreement, the company will provide certain Olumiant manufacturing know-how to allow Eva Pharma to make and supply the drug to patients in 49 countries across Africa, president of Lilly International, Ilya Yuffa, said in a release.
"Our commitment to expanding access to affordable and innovative medicines for people living in low- to middle-income countries continues," Yuffa added.
The move falls in line with Lilly’s access to healthcare initiative Lilly 30x30, which looks to widen access to its medicines for 30 million people in resource-limited settings annually by 2030.
Eva Pharma, for its part, is “proud to localize the entire value chain of this critical medication on the continent, from producing high-potency baricitinib active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), to tackling complex manufacturing challenges," CEO Riad Armanious said in a statement.
Eva is slated to kick off sales of the locally made Olumiant by 2026. The companies aim to reach an estimated 20,000 patients with this collaboration by 2030.
JAK inhibitor Olumiant was licensed to Lilly from original maker Incyte and is approved to treat rheumatoid arthritis, atopic dermatitis, COVID-19 and most recently alopecia areata.
In recent years, Lilly and Eva have been working together to ensure a “sustainable supply of life-saving medicines” across several African countries, the partners said in the release. In 2022, Lilly committed to delivering its active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) for its human and analogue insulin at a reduced cost in 56 African countries. That agreement also entailed a “pro-bono transfer” of the technology Eva needed to formulate, fill and finish vials and cartridges.
Outside of that deal, Lilly also struck a similar deal with Bangladesh’s International Agencies (IABL) in 2023 to supply the API for its human insulin at a cheaper price in an effort to improve access and affordability for nearly 1 million people with diabetes in Bangladesh by the end of the decade.
Eva, meanwhile, has also partnered with Gilead to supply its COVID-19 antiviral remdesivir across Africa at a major discount.