The US government has acquired more than 90% of the stocks of the only drug that has shown relative effectiveness against Covid-19.
- The average length of hospital stay for a covid patient would be reduced by 4 days when treated with remdesivir
- The mortality rate would drop from 7.1% with remdevisir, against 11.9% with a placebo
- The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has come out in favor of a “conditional marketing” of remdesivir in the EU
The US government has announced that it has purchased 92% of remdesivir stocks, the only drug to date having shown relative effectiveness against Covid-19. Precisely, Donald Trump has acquired 500,000 doses of the drug out of the 550,000 available over the next three months.
“President Trump made an incredible deal for that Americans can have access to the first authorized therapeutic treatment against Covid-19“, said the Minister of Health, Alex Azar, as the United States became the country most affected in the world by the virus (130,101 deaths for 2,738,113 confirmed cases).
Reduction in hospitalization time and mortality
Developed by the Gilead Sciences laboratory, originally to treat Ebola and Marburg virus infections, remdesivir was approved in the United States after conclusive clinical trials showing a reduction in the death rate and the duration of hospitalization of patients of at least four days.
A study published at the end of May in the New England Journal of Medicine advances in fact that the average length of hospitalization of a Covid patient is 11 days when he is treated with remdesivir (a dose of 200 mg on the first day, then 100 mg / day the following 9), against 15 with a placebo. According to the researchers, 7.1% of patients treated with this antiviral died within 14 days, compared to 11.9% in those who received the placebo.
Far from being a miracle cure, remdesivir would still be effective when combined with other treatments. “Remdesivir is not to be thrown away because in the laboratory it turns out to be quite potent and has a good antiviral effect. It is possible to create synergies by combining it with other treatments”, recently explained to the express Bruno Canard, CNRS research director in Marseille. On the strength of this success, the Gilead Sciences laboratory has set the price of each vial at $390 in developed countries, the price of a complete treatment (including 6 vials) therefore amounting to $2,340.
Saving $12,000 in hospitalization costs per patient, the laboratory wanted to bill theand remedy to a tax “widely available”in accordance with the recommendations from the Institute for Clinical and Economic Reviewwhich evaluates the price of drugs and had opted for a range between $2,520 and $2,800.
Does France have stocks?
If the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has come out in favor of a “conditional release” of remdesivir within the EU for critically ill Covid patients, however the US government’s acquisition raises fears of a shortage for the rest of the world.
“The UK has been using remdesivir for a while, first in clinical trials and now as part of an early access medicines programme. The UK has a sufficient stockpile of remdesivir”, assured a spokesperson for the British Prime Minister to AFP. In Germany, “the government secured stockpiles of remdesivir early”also confirmed a spokesperson for the Ministry of Health, estimating for the time being that the reserves were “sufficient”. France did not wish to respond to AFP.
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