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Covid-19: US should end Gilead’s monopoly on producing remdesivir, report says

BMJ 2020; 370 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m3537 (Published 10 September 2020) Cite this as: BMJ 2020;370:m3537

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  1. Janice Hopkins Tanne
  1. New York

The US government should end the shortage of the antiviral drug remdesivir by eliminating Gilead’s monopoly, says a report from Public Citizen, a national non-profit organisation that represents consumers’ interests.1

Remdesivir, an unapproved investigational drug that is used in patients with severe covid-19, is in short supply and rationed. Doctors and politicians at a press conference on 8 September called on the Trump administration to use existing laws to increase supplies of the drug by ending Gilead’s monopoly. This would allow other companies to make generic versions of the drug and permit imports of generic versions from foreign manufacturers. Gilead would earn licensing fees from generic manufacturers. Gilead has licensed some generic manufacturers to sell remdesivir in low and middle income countries, but the agreements are narrow and limited, says …

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