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US Procures Almost Entire Supply of COVID-19 Drug

Steve Baragona

   WASHINGTON - The Trump administration says it has locked down nearly
   the entire supply of one of the only available anti-COVID-19 drugs from
   the manufacturer for the next several months.

   That raises questions about access to one of the few treatments
   available for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, for much
   of the rest of the world.

   Remdesivir is the first drug shown to help patients with COVID-19,
   though its impact is modest. Hospitalized patients given the drug
   recovered four days faster than those given a placebo. [1]Preliminary
   results did not show that it saved lives, but the study is ongoing.

   The U.S. Department of [2]Health and Human Services announced Monday
   that it had secured half a million treatment courses of the antiviral
   drug from its manufacturer, U.S. pharmaceutical company Gilead
   Sciences, including 100% of the company's production for July and 90%
   for August and September.

   "President Trump has struck an amazing deal to ensure Americans have
   access to the first authorized therapeutic for COVID-19," HHS Secretary
   Alex Azar said in a statement.

References

   1. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2007764
   2. https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2020/06/29/trump-administration-secures-new-supplies-remdesivir-united-states.html

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