Coronavirus Treatment: Remdesivir Arrives At Some Mass. Hospitals In Limited Supply

BOSTON (CBS) – In the race to find a treatment for COVID-19, a drug that’s showing potential has reached some Massachusetts hospitals. It’s called remdesivir and it’s made by the California-based pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences Inc. The FDA approved the drug for emergency use on May 1st. “Remdesivir is a broad spectrum antiviral agent, it targets viruses specifically,” said Vice Chair of Emergency Medicine at Massachusetts General, Dr. Ali Raja. “It was initially developed for viruses like SARS or MERS but it never got approved for those.” Last week, the federal government announced it will get roughly 40% of Gilead’s global donation of 1.5 million doses. And that over the next six weeks, “the 607,000 vials of the experimental drug will treat an estimated 78,000 hospitalized COVID-19 patients.” Remdesivir (Image credit Gilead Sciences Inc.) “This drug is promising and we want to get it to the American people and the areas that need it most,” said White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany. In a statement to WBZ-TV Gilead said: “This donation is our commitment to provide our existing supply of remdesivir at no cost for the treatment of patients with severe COVID-19 infection globally. Gilead will continue to work with health authorities to determine the appropriate allocation of available product supply for appropriate patients.” But the initial roll-out has drawn criticism f...
Source: WBZ-TV - Breaking News, Weather and Sports for Boston, Worcester and New Hampshire - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Boston News Health Syndicated Local Anaridis Rodriguez Coronavirus remdesivir Source Type: news