U.S. health regulators paused Eli Lilly's coronavirus treatment trials, but experts aren't worried

Eli Lilly headquarters.
(Image credit: iStock/jetcityimage)

Federal health regulators paused enrollment in trials of Eli Lilly's coronavirus antibody treatment on Tuesday "out of an abundance of caution."

Officials did not explain why the pause was recommended, but a spokesperson for the company indicated it was "supportive of the decision" by an independent data safety monitoring board. Dr. Carlos del Rio, an infectious diseases expert at Emory University School of Medicine, told NBC News that "pauses are not infrequent in a clinical trial," especially one as "truncated" as the COVID-19 treatment development process.

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Kathryn Krawczyk

Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.