The US government has bought virtually the entire production of the Covid-19 drug Remdesivir for the next three months. The US Department of Health & Human Services has reached an agreement with the drug's manufacturer, Gilead Sciences, to purchase all its projected production for this month and 90% of production in August and September.
This will make the drug unavailable to Europe and most of the rest of the world. Remdesivir is expected to be in high demand as one of the only treatments shown to alter the course of Covid-19.
After the intravenously administered medicine helped shorten hospital recovery times in a clinical trial, it won emergency use authorisation in the United States and full approval in Japan.