(Reuters) - The U.S. government will pay as much as $1.19 billion to Eli Lilly and Co to secure nearly 1 million doses of its experimental COVID-19 antibody treatment, a drug similar to a treatment that U.S. President Donald Trump received.Lilly will start delivering 300,000 doses of the treatment, for which it is being paid $375 million, within two months of receiving an emergency use authorization from the U.S. health regulator, the company said. After that, the government has an option to buy an additional 650,000 vials for $812.5 million, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement. The price per dose amounts to $1,250 as per the contract, but the vials purchased by the government will be free to the American public.