Potential cure for coronavirus, an anti-viral drug named remdesivir will be available next week for patients.
The COVID-19 Drug remdesivir was approved for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration on Friday. The CEO of the company making the drugs Gilead Sciences, Dan O’Day announced the time estimate on CBS’ Face of the Nation.
“We intend to get that to patients in the early part of this next week,” he said.
O’Day continued to say that Gilead Sciences plans to donate 1.5 million vials, which is its entire supply, to the United States government. “We did that because we acknowledge and recognize the human suffering, the human need here and want to make sure that nothing gets in the way of this getting to patients,” he explained.
The government will determine which states will have first access to the drug. O’Day explains the government “will determine which cities are most vulnerable and where the patients are that need this medicine.”
The drug has seen encouraging results in a recent clinical trial.
In the United States, there have been over 1 million confirmed cases of COVID-19. There have also been over 60,000 deaths related to complications from the coronavirus.
New York leads the country in total cases with over 300,000.
