Remdesivir: US supply of only proven coronavirus drug to run out within weeks

Initial batch of drugs were donated by Gilead Sciences

Two ampules of Ebola drug Remdesivir are pictured during a news conference at the University Hospital Eppendorf (UKE) in Hamburg, Germany ((dpa-Pool))

The US supply of coronavirus drug remdesivir will run out within weeks, according to Dr Robert Kadlec, an official with the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Remdesivir is the only drug that has been proven to be effective at treating Covid-19, and Mr Kadlec told CNN that the government’s supply, that was donated by Gilead Sciences, will run out at the end of June.

The drug was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), to treat patients with coronavirus, in early March, after clinical trials showed it reduced the amount of time a patient was in hospital by 31 per cent.

Despite its effectiveness in helping patients recover, the drug has not been proven to significantly improve chances of survival, according to The National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The company is expected to charge for the next period of supply, and have not yet revealed how much will be available from July and what the price will be.

Mr Kadlec told the outlet that the government is set to receive the last donated shipment from Gilead on 29 June, and revealed that they are in discussions with the drug manufacturer.

“Right now, we’re waiting to hear from Gilead what is their expected delivery availability of the drug as we go from June to July,” he said.

“We’re kind of not in negotiations, but in discussions with Gilead as they project what the availability of their product will be,” Mr Kadlec added.

Last month, Democratic representatives, Lloyd Doggett and Rosa DeLauro, wrote a letter to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Alex Azar, and asked for details about any agreement with Gilead to be made public.

They wrote that US taxpayers helped fund the development of remdesivir, and added that Mr Azar has not got back to them on previous queries about future pricing of the drug.

“HHS has not responded to any of our inquiries about pricing and what it’s doing to protect the taxpayer investment in remdesivir, a drug that would not even be used but for the taxpayer investment of about $70 million in its development,” the letter read.

Gilead plan on having more than one million drug courses available by the end of the year, and on Sunday, their spokesperson, Sonia Choi, told CNN that they “plan to work with the US government to determine distribution of remdesivir post-donation.”