Public health experts criticized the U.
S. on Wednesday after the US Department of Health and Human Services secured a significant supply of the only anti-viral drug licensed to treat the deadly COVID-19.
The US Department of Health and Human Services struck a deal with US pharmaceutical firm Gilead Sciences and secured more than 500,000 courses of Remdesivir.
This is the entire projected production of the drug for July and 90% of its projected production in August and September.
“To the extent possible, we want to ensure that any American patient who needs Remdesivir can get it,” said HHS Secretary Alex Azar in a statement.
“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.”
University of Sussex senior lecturer Ohid Yaqub called the deal a “disappointing news.”
“It so clearly signals an unwillingness to cooperate with other countries and the chilling effect this has on international agreements about intellectual property rights,” Yaqub said.
This week, Gilead has set the price for the new shipments at $2,300 to $3,100 per treatment course, while allowing generic makers to supply the drug for 127 poor or middle-income countries at much lower costs.
The company announced that its agreement with the U.S. allows for any unneeded supplies to be sent to other countries, and noted that they are “working as quickly as possible” for the drug to be accessible worldwide.
Gilead also noted that the U.S. is seeing a significant rise in COVID-19 cases, and pointed out that “most EU and other developed countries have reduced their levels of disease considerably.”
Remdesivir is the only drug licensed by both the U.S. and the European Union as a treatment for the severely stricken COVID-19 patients.
In its earlier studies, remdesivir has been proven to have significantly improved recovery of patients who received the treatment.