Brian Crombie has a provocative interview with Dr. Carl Hansen, CEO of AbCellera Biologics, a British Columbia-based company that has developed a neutralizing monoclonal antibody treatment, bamlanivimab for the treatment of Covid 19, yet it sits in storage in Canada.
AbCellera CEO and co-founder Carl Hansen calls Canada’s reluctance to deploy the company’s COVID-19 treatment “absolutely appalling and inexcusable.”
In the U.S., bamlanivimab has been used to treat hundreds of thousands of COVID patients; Biden White House said monoclonal antibody treatments save one life for every 52 doses administered. Canada has also authorized the treatment. But while the federal government has purchased thousands of doses, provincial governments have balked at making them available to doctors, citing the logistical challenges of administering the treatment and a lack of evidence that it works.