US-Based Pharma Gilead To Help Expand Availability Of Remdesivir In India

“We are committed to doing our part to help tackle this crisis. Our immediate focus is to help address the needs of patients in India who may benefit from remdesivir as quickly as we can by working together with the government, health authorities and our voluntary licensees,” Johanna Mercier, chief commercial officer of Gilead Sciences said on Monday.

Representational Image

New Delhi: On Monday, Gilead announced the steps it is going to take to help expand avvailability of Remdesivir a drugs which is essential in the treatment of Covid-19 in India. 

The company announced that it was providing its voluntary licensing partners technical assistance, support for addition of new local manufacturing facilities and donation of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) to rapidly scale up the production of remdesivir.

“The recent surge of COVID-19 cases in India is having a devastating impact on communities and has created unprecedented pressure on health systems,” Johanna Mercier, chief commercial officer of Gilead Sciences said on Monday.

While its efficacy is heavily debated interantionally, India has approved the restricted emergency use of Remdesivir for the treatment of suspected or laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 in adults and children hospitalised with severe disease.

Gilead in addition will donate at least 450,000 vials of Veklury (remdesivir) to help address the immediate needs of Indian patients, the company said.

“We are committed to doing our part to help tackle this crisis. Our immediate focus is to help address the needs of patients in India who may benefit from remdesivir as quickly as we can by working together with the government, health authorities and our voluntary licensees,” Mercier said according to PTI.

All seven of Gilead’s licensees based in India have significantly accelerated production of remdesivir by scaling up their batch sizes, adding new manufacturing facilities and/or onboarding local contract manufacturers across the country, it said.

Gilead’s voluntary licensing program for remdesivir, established in May 2020, has already enabled access to the drug for more than 2.3 million people in more than 60 low and middle-income countries.