The Trump administration claims it has secured nearly the entire supply of the antiviral drug, Remdesivir.
Remdesivir is one of the only available COVID-19 drugs right now and is shown to help the people recover earlier from the viral disease. It is a broad-spectrum antiviral medication developed by U.S. pharmaceutical company, Gilead Sciences.
It's observed that Remdesivir cuts the duration of symptoms from 15 days down to 11 in clinical trials. The clinical trial was run by America's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). It means that the impact of the drug is modest as the preliminary results didn't show that it saved lives, but it's still the only effective antiviral drug available. Gilead Sciences signed licensing agreements with generic manufacturers in India, Pakistan, and Egypt to manufacture Remdesivir in mid of May.
US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced on Monday that an agreement has been signed by US government and Gilead Sciences to secure large supplies of the drug Remdesivir for the United States from the pharmaceutical company through September, allowing American hospitals to purchase the drug in amounts allocated by HHS and state health departments.
HHS Secretary Alex Azar said:
“President Trump has struck an amazing deal to ensure Americans have access to the first authorized therapeutic for COVID-19. To the extent possible, we want to ensure that any American patient who needs remdesivir can get it. The Trump Administration is doing everything in our power to learn more about life-saving therapeutics for COVID-19 and secure access to these options for the American people.”
HHS has secured more than half a million treatment courses of the drug for American hospitals through September, from its manufacturer Gilead Sciences, including 100% of the company's production for July and 90% for August and September.
This development has raised serious questions about the global distribution of COVID treatments. As it was previously feared that whenever any drug/vaccine for the coronavirus infection will be made , developed countries will secure the treatment first because of their greater resources. Remdesivir procurement by American authorities may very well be the indication of what's gonna happen in the future.
