Gilead Sciences, a California-based biopharmaceutical company, has been going through a series of licensing agreements with generic manufacturers to boost the production of remdesivir, a potential drug used for the treatment of COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus.
The company received an early authorization for its drug remdesivir, which was originally developed for the treatment of Ebola.
Gilead made nonexclusive licensing agreements with five generic drug manufacturers that operate in India and Pakistan to supply remdesivir for 127 countries.
The company will team up with Cipla, Mylan, Hetero Labs, Ferozsons Laboratories, and Jubilant Lifesciences to manufacture the drug, especially for low-income countries. Gilead said it also includes high-income countries “that face significant obstacles to healthcare access.”
Under the agreements, each company will be allowed to set the price for its own generic version of remdesivir.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced emergency approval of remdesivir for critically ill COVID-19 patients.
Gilead said, “Remdesivir manufacturing relies on ‘scarce’ raw materials that command their own ‘lengthy’ production timelines. Moving forward, coordination on producing the drug will be critical.”
Gilead’s move to bolster its remdesivir production comes as other pharma companies are in a race to boost production for their own possible drugs and vaccines.
On Sunday, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals CEO Leonard Schleifer told CNN’s State of the Union that the manufacturing capacity to meet the global demand for a COVID-19 drug or vaccine is “limited.”
“If there’s something we have to learn from this pandemic so that when COVID-21 or -25 or -32 comes along, we need a little bit more capacity already in place so that we can get it to everybody,” Schleifer said. The article originally appeared on Fierce Pharma.
