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In addition to providing support to its licensees to expand their local manufacturing capacity, Gilead will also donate at least 450,000 vials of Remdesivir to help meet the immediate needs of Indian patients.
American biopharmaceutical company Gilead has announced steps to expand the availability of Remdesivir, a major therapeutic drug used in the treatment of COVID-19 patients in India. The recent upsurge of COVID-19 cases in India is having a devastating effect on communities and has created unprecedented pressure on health systems, said Joanna Mercier, the chief commercial officer of Gilead Sciences on Monday.
The company announced that it was providing technical assistance to its voluntary licensing partners, support to add new local manufacturing facilities and boost the production of Remdesivir rapidly by donations of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API). Remdesivir in India is approved for restricted emergency use for the treatment of suspected or laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 in hospitalized adults and children with serious illness.
The company said that in addition to providing assistance to its licensees to expand their local manufacturing capacity, Gilead will also donate at least 450,000 vials of Veklury (remdesivir) to help meet the immediate needs of Indian patients.
We are committed to helping deal with this crisis. Our immediate focus is to help meet the needs of patients in India, who can benefit as quickly as possible by working closely with the government, health authorities, and our voluntary licensees.
It has been said that all seven of Gilead’s licensees in India have greatly accelerated the production of remdesivir by increasing the size of their batches, adding new manufacturing facilities and / or local contract manufacturers across the country. While these efforts are expected to increase the availability of remdesivir in the coming weeks, the guild said it would donate at least 450,000 vials to the government of India to reduce the immediate need for treatment.
Gilead’s voluntary licensing program for Remdesivir, established in May 2020, has enabled access to the drug for more than 2.3 million people in more than 60 low- and middle-income countries. The program, which builds Gilead’s leading voluntary licensing model for its HIV and viral hepatitis drugs, grants long-term licenses to nine manufacturers, seven of which are based in India, enabling access to remdesivir in 127 countries.
