WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th June, 2020) The United States and India have concluded at least three partnerships to develop a vaccine for the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), India's Ambassador in Washington Taranjit Singh Sandhu said on Monday.
"There are at least three ongoing partnerships in COVID-19 vaccine development between our companies and institutions," Sandhu said. "Gilead Sciences has entered into an agreement with seven Indian companies to manufacture and distribute Remdesivir... to several other countries in the world. In fact, 126 plus countries."
Remdesivir, an antiviral drug produced by Gilead Sciences, has become the first treatment for COVID-19 to receive the backing of the European Medicines Agency, according to an agency press release on Thursday.
The European Commission is expected to approve the conditional marketing authorization for remdesivir in the coming days, which will allow the treatment to be used before the completion of all clinical trials, the European Medicines Agency said.
The Japanese government approved in May the use of remdesivir on patients who are severely ill with COVID-19.
India has confirmed a record 19,400 new coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, which brings the total number of those infected to exceed 548,000, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Monday.
More than 10 million cases have been reported so far and 502,387 virus-related deaths, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University.
