In an effort to combat the coronavirus, Gilead Sciences has decided to donate its entire supply of remdesivir to the U.S. with approval from the FDA.
With the recent news from London that they have found another possible cure for the coronavirus, it looks like Gilead Sciences along with the U.S. government is pushing to release remdesivir to its patients.
Gilead Sciences chairman and CEO Daniel O’Day told CBS’ Face of the Nation that they will deliver the drug to the patients this week as he adds:
“We’ve donated the entire supply that we have within our supply chain and we did that because we acknowledge and recognize the human suffering, the human need here, and want to make sure nothing gets in the way of this getting to patients.”
In addition, once he delivers it to the U.S. government, they will decide which states would be a priority in delivering remdesivir.
Gilead remdesivir clinical trials get mixed results
The initial reports from the remdesivir clinical trials gave promising results in showing effectiveness causing its stock price to react positively.
However, the days passed when another leaked study conducted in China proved that remdesivir wasn’t performing well as expected which caused investors to doubt—the same time where oil prices went out of control.
Last week, Dr. Anthony Fauci lauded Gilead for delivering “good news” for the recent clinical trial results eventually getting the attention of the Food and Drug Administration to get it approved as soon as possible.
Ever since the start of the year, Gilead shares are up by over 20%.
Remdesivir gets FDA approval but it feels ‘rushed’
Following these successful trials, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted emergency use authorization for remdesivir as a solution to treat the coronavirus. The approval felt “rushed” in the sense that it bypassed review processes for FDA-approved treatments.
Remdesivir will be provided in 5-day and 10-day dosages and doctors will be allowed to offer the drug to patients hospitalized with the disease, preferably the 10-day dosage.
In addition, President Donald Trump has been very vocal about remdesivir that he wanted the FDA to approve it immediately once Gilead provides good results from the clinical trials.
Gilead expects to provide over 140,000 rounds of its 10-day treatment regimen by the end of May and expects that it can make 1 million rounds by the end of this year.
If remdesivir proves effective, Gilead will be one of the pioneers of providing an official drug that can slow down the coronavirus.
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