The European Commission is negotiating with the US-based Gilead Sciences company, which is producing the Remdesivir antiviral drug used against COVID-19, the possibility of providing the European Union with a sufficient number of doses of the drug in light of reports that the US intends to stockpile the doses, spokesman Stefan de Keersmaecker said on Thursday
BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd July, 2020) The European Commission is negotiating with the US-based Gilead Sciences company, which is producing the Remdesivir antiviral drug used against COVID-19, the possibility of providing the European Union with a sufficient number of doses of the drug in light of reports that the US intends to stockpile the doses, spokesman Stefan de Keersmaecker said on Thursday.
Earlier in the week, The Guardian newspaper reported that the United States had purchased nearly all reserves of Remdesivir for the next three months from Gilead Sciences, thus, significantly limiting access to the drug for the UK and other European countries. While the first 140,000 doses of the drug were sold worldwide, in late June, according to the newspaper, Washington purchased about 500,000 doses, which is about 90 percent of the drug's three-month supply.
"Commissioner [Stella] Kyriakides has had multiple discussions with different pharmaceutical companies, including with Gilead, to discuss, for instance, production capacities. Now, at our level, the commission is currently negotiating with Gilead the possibility to reserve ... the sufficient quantities doses [of Remdesivir} for the [EU] member states," de Keersmaecker said at a briefing.
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.
Remdesivir, initially developed to treat Ebola, has been proven to work against the coronavirus. The drug has become the first treatment for COVID-19 to receive the backing of the European Medicines Agency.
