Here’s what you should know about Gilead’s remdesivir
Despite positive results from a recent study, experts indicate that remdesivir is not a panacea for Covid-19.
Vaccines are crucial to protect against infectious diseases. It is an arduous, expensive process to produce a safe, effective vaccine. Vaccines can keep people healthy and defend against infection. In addition, prophylactic steps would be helpful for healthcare workers and infected individuals.
In fact, researchers did not use remdesivir to defend against infection. It was used for patients in critical condition. Hence, the study includes hospitalized patients only.
Moreover, researchers gave remdesivir via IV infusion in this study for 10 days. Gilead mentioned that the treatment could be given over a 5-day schedule. Therefore, more data would need to become available regarding a shorter treatment regimen.
Besides, the duration of IV dosage would hinder the broad adoption of remdesivir for the majority of patients with Covid-19. Thus, remdesivir helps patients with severe conditions recover albeit with plenty of effort from healthcare workers.
Indeed, Gilead has not announced the price/cost of remdesivir. Daniel O’Day, Gilead’s CEO, wrote that the company would give away remdesivir.
Gilead specializes in products against infectious diseases. The company produces medications for the hepatitis C virus as well as a broad offering of drugs for HIV, which includes the pill Truvada. The company recorded more than $16 billion in revenue in 2019 from its HIV products and is worth $100 billion.