COVID-19: Gilead donates1.5m vials of Remdesivir

WASHINGTON: Daniel O’Day, CEO of Gilead Sciences (makers of anti-viral Remdesivir) has informed here yesterday (3rd May, 2020) that the company was donating its entire stock of 1.5 million vials, enough to treat 100,000 to 200,000 COVID-19 patients.

Chief of Gilead Sciences stated: “We have been exporting for clinical trials and for compassionate use thousands of treatment courses. And our collaboration with the government has been such, we have been very transparent with them here in the United States and we have a good relationship on future allocation.”

Gilead Sciences is making it available via govt. to patients in the USA: “We have been exporting for clinical trials and for compassionate use thousands of treatment courses,”Gilead CEO revealed. Further speaking about experimental drug Remdesivir, Gilead CEO Daniel O’Day stated that based on where it is needed the most US government will determine how the drug is allocated.

It is pertinent to mention here that Remdesivir is being administered on hospitalized COVID-19 patients and has shown to reduce recovery period. FDA, believing that the drug helps some recover faster, had given a green light for its use on hospitalized patients. President Trump, while announcing the development termed it a very promising situation in the American battle to contain the deadly virus.

Earlier, American physician and immunologist Dr Anthony Fauci stated: “The data shows that remdesivir has a clear-cut, significant, positive effect in diminishing the time to recoverySince January 2020, Dr Anthony Fauci has been one of the lead members of the Trump Administration’s White House Coronavirus Task Force addressing the pandemic. FDA approval came days after Fauci expressed cautious optimism about results of drug trial Coronavirus Response Coordinator for the White House Coronavirus Task Force Dr Deborah Birx  stated: 

A drug trial of Remdesivir had manifested a positive effect on coronavirus patients’ recovery time and survival rate. Savants at the helm of affairs are hopeful that experimental antivirus drug Remdesivir will emerge as life saver in the milieu when Coronavirus Pandemic has locked the humanity down all over the world.

According to details shared by American scientists on 17th of April, Remdesivir had proven effective against COVID-19 in a small experiment involving monkeys. For experimentation two sets of six monkeys (rhesus macaque) were deliberately infected with SARS-CoV-2. Mild breathing problem was noticed in one of the six treated animals whereas, all six of the untreated monkeys had difficult breathing.

The amount of virus found in the lungs was significantly lower in the treated group compared to the untreated group of monkeys. The study is meant to follow treatment procedures used for hospitalized COVID-19 patients in a large human trial.