Coronavirus: US slammed for hoarding Covid-19 treatment remdesivir after Trump’s ‘amazing deal’
- White House says US secured 500,000 doses for Americans, representing nearly all of Gilead’s production capacity for next three months
- European countries say they have stocks set aside; South Korea plans talks to buy more in August
Health experts on Wednesday slammed the US decision to hog nearly the entire global supply of remdesivir, the only drug licensed so far to treat Covid-19, warning that type of selfish behaviour sets a dangerous precedent for attempts to share scarce treatments amid the pandemic.
The US government announced on Tuesday that President Donald Trump had struck “an amazing deal” to buy the drug for Americans, made by Gilead Sciences.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said Trump has secured 500,000 treatments of the drug through September, representing 100 per cent of Gilead’s July production capacity and 90 per cent of its capacity in August and September.
“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 said in a statement.
Early trials testing remdesivir in patients hospitalised with Covid-19 found that those who received the drug recovered quicker than those who did not. It is the only drug licensed by both the US and the European Union as a treatment for those with severe illness from the coronavirus.