US hoards drug

Health experts yesterday slammed a US decision to buy nearly the entire global supply of remdesivir, the only drug licensed so far to treat Covid19, warning that type of selfish behaviour sets a dangerous precedent for attempts to share scarce treatments amid the pandemic. The US government announced President Donald Trump struck “an amazing deal” to buy the drug, made by Gilead Sciences. The Department of Health and Human Services 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, September.