Gilead donates entire supply of vital drug to those most in need
More than 1.5 million vials of remdesivir — the breakthrough antiviral drug shown to help COVID19 patients recover faster — will go to the most critically ill patients in the nation early this week, said Daniel O’Day, CEO of Foster City’s Gilead Sciences, which created the drug.
O’Day said the biopharmaceutical company donated its entire supply, enough for 100,000 to 200,000 treatments, to the federal government, which will determine where to send the drug in the coming days.
“We are now firmly focused on getting this medicine to the most urgent patients around the country here in the United States,” O’Day said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “We intend to get that to patients in the early part of this next week, beginning to work with the government, which will determine which cities are most vulnerable and where the patients are that need this medicine.”
The worsthit states are New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. New York, with nearly 25,000 coronavirus deaths, accounts for close to half the death toll in the country.
The Food and Drug Administration on Friday authorized emergency use of remdesivir, the first drug that may help fight the virus.
A preliminary study showed that remdesivir shortened recovery time by 31%, about four days, for hospitalized patients. Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the drug would become a standard of care for severely ill patients.
The federal trial’s preliminary results have also indicated improved survival chances for patients who receive remdesivir, with a mortality rate of 8% for the group that took the drug compared to 11.6% for the placebo group, according to a statement from Fauci’s institute.
Dr. Peter ChinHong, a UCSF infectious disease specialist involved in the trial, said remdesivir doesn’t appear to cause a lot of side effects and seems to be broadly welltolerated by patients. He does not think it will be the only treatment needed for COVID19.
“This is just the beginning of investigations,” ChinHong told The Chronicle last week. “The other part of the picture is treating the inflammation and organ injury. I think that’s going to be the next phase in the studies.”
O’Day said the drug must be administered to hospital patients through an IV, in a five or 10day treatment, depending on the severity of each case.
But scientists are looking at other formulas to administer the drug, including inhalation, he said.
“This medicine is not suitable for oral administration because of the way it’s metabolized. But there are ways we can look at formulations, potentially, that would get us to earlier patients and patients outside the hospital setting,” O’Day said.
More than 1.1 million coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the U.S., with more than 67,000 deaths.
O’Day said he expects the company to have “significantly more supply” in the second half of the year.
San Francisco Chronicle staff writer J.D. Morris contributed to this report.