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Federal regulators Friday approved the use of the antiviral drug remdesivir for covid-19 outpatients at high risk of being hospitalized, providing a new treatment option for doctors struggling with shortages of effective drugs to counter the coronavirus.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has stated that it has suspended Gilead Sciences’ antiviral drug remdesivir, which was touted as COVID-19 treatment, from its prequalification list—- an official list of medicines used as a benchmark for procurement by developing countries. In an emailed response to news agency Reuters, WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic said,”Yes we have suspended it from the PQ (prequalification list). The suspension is a signal to countries that WHO, in compliance with the treatment guidelines, does not recommend countries procure the drug for COVID Earlier on Friday, the WHO had warned that the antiviral drug remdesivir should not...

A biotech company said Wednesday its experimental drug has proved effective against the new coronavirus in a major U.S. government study that put it to a strict test. Gilead Sciences’s remdesivir would be the first treatment to pass such a test against the virus, which has killed more than 218,000 people since it emerged late last year in China. Having a treatment could have a profound effect on the global pandemic, especially because health officials say any vaccine is likely a year or more away. The study, run by the National Institutes of Health, tested remdesivir versus usual care in...

Diana West, author of... Death of the Grown-up, American Betrayaland The Red Thread: A Search for Ideological Drivers Inside the Anti-Trump Conspiracy...tweets the following brief timeline: 1/10/17 #Obama WH science office issues guidelines to permit research which "could produce a potential pandemic pathogen (an enhanced PPP)." 1/12/17 #Fauci declares 'there will be surprise outbreak" during Trump admin. https://gumc.georgetown.edu/gumc-stories/global-health-experts-advise-advance-planning-for-inevitable-pandemic/ Fauci's quote on 'surprise outbreak during Trump's administration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=197&v=DNXGAxGJgQI&feature=emb_logo direct link to Diana West's tweet

Gilead Sciences Inc on Friday increased enrollment target by 3,600 for a trial testing its experimental drug, remdesivir, in severe COVID-19 patients, a day after a media report said the drug was showing promise. Shares of the company rose 8% after medical news website STAT detailed rapid recovery in fever and respiratory symptoms in COVID-19 patients at the University of Chicago Medicine hospital. The enrollment estimate in the trial run by Gilead was increased to 6,000 patients from 2,400 previously, according a register of clinical trials. Medical news website STAT had reported that a University of Chicago hospital participating in...

An experimental drug called remdesivir “significantly reduced” the CCP virus in monkeys, according to a study released on Friday. The CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, a novel coronavirus that emerged from mainland China last year, causes the disease COVID-19. Fears of the spread of the virus has forced the United States into a near-total lockdown, though some states this week announced plans to start reopening soon. Remdesivir significantly reduced both clinical disease and damage to the lungs of rhesus macaques infected with the CCP virus, according to scientists of the National Institutes of Health. The study was not peer reviewed...

The happiest I’ve been in six weeks was reading this story.Investors read it too, with the Dow Futures market suddenly evincing joy as well. My layman’s understanding is that remdesivir has always been the best hope among scientists for a “miracle drug” that might put a real dent in the death toll. Hydroxychloroquine gets all the press because Trump has seized on it for whatever reason, but the evidence of its efficacy so far is mixed. The French study that put the drug on the world’s radar screen as a potential silver bullet against coronavirus was later withdrawn by...

Shares of Gilead Sciences Inc soared 15% on Thursday after a media report suggested that severe COVID-19 patients were positively responding to the drugmaker’s experimental treatment remdesivir. A Chicago hospital treating COVID-19 patients with the antiviral medication as part of a trial is seeing rapid recoveries in fever and respiratory symptoms, with nearly all patients discharged in less than a week, according to medical news website SThere There are other trials being run concurrently at other institutions. There are currently no approved treatments for COVID-19, the highly contagious respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus that has infected over 2...

U.S. stock futures surged on Thursday night after a report said a Gilead Sciences drug was showing effectiveness in treating the coronavirus. The move pointed to a jump for the stock market on Friday. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 700 points, or about 3%. S&P 500 futures gained 2.8% while Nasdaq 100 futures were up by 1.8%. Gilead shares jumped by 14% in after-hours trading after STAT news reported that a Chicago hospital treating coronavirus patients with Remdesivir in a trial were recovering rapidly from severe symptoms. The publication cited a video it obtained where the trial results...

Signs are mounting that Gilead’s (NASDAQ:GILD) remdesivir is at least somewhat effective in treating the novel coronavirus. Those signs are positive for the world, and for GILD stock. On April 3, the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the European Union’s equivalent of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, recommended that remdesivir be approved for compassionate use.According to the EMA, “These [compassionate use] programmes are only put in place if the medicine is expected to help patients with life-threatening, long-lasting or seriously debilitating illnesses, which cannot be treated satisfactorily with any currently authorised medicine.”The agency reported that remdesivir is active against the novel...

* Gilead is testing efficacy of remdesivir against the COVID-19 in multiple international trials. * Remdesivir prevented severe lung damage from MERS coronovirus infection in a mouse and monkey model. * Preclinical data and an explanation for the Ebola trial failure indicate that remdesivir will be a successful treatment for COVID-19. * Inevitable remdesivir licensing deals, with exclusivity until 2034, and its forthcoming marketing of a blockbuster arthritis drug, filgotinib, will increase Gilead's revenue significantly. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) is currently testing remdesivir in multiple human trials for efficacy against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Remdesivir is an adenosine nucleotide...

As drug manufacturers speed up their efforts to find a new treatment drug for the coronavirus outbreak that has devastated China and has caused a world-wide panic, a Chinese drug company just announced that it has started mass-producing an experimental drug from Gilead Sciences that has the potential to fight the novel coronavirus (1). BrightGene Bio-Medical Technology, a Suzhou based company (2), just announced that it has developed the technology to synthesize the active pharmaceutical ingredients of Remdesivir, the drug developed by Gilead Biosciences. Its stock price surged 20% in Tuesday morning trading in Shanghai (1). “While BrightGene said that...

Gilead Sciences Inc on Wednesday took the unusual step of asking the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to rescind a controversial orphan drug designation the agency had granted for the biotech company’s potential coronavirus treatment remdesivir just 48 hours earlier. The FDA agreed to the withdrawal, and said it is actively working to speed development of medical products desperately needed to prevent or treat the highly contagious COVID-19 illness caused by the virus. Shares of the California-based company closed down nearly 6% at $69.66. The company was criticized by lawmakers and patient advocates after receiving the orphan designation on Monday...

China has applied to patent a drug candidate being developed by Gilead Sciences as the government rushes to find the cure for the deadly coronavirus, a move that could raise questions on intellectual property and marketing rights. The state-backed Institute of Virology in Wuhan filed the patent for using remdesivir to fight the novel coronavirus on January 21, according to a statement posted on its website two weeks later on February 4. If approved, the drug will be used to facilitate its potential global market entry, it added. Studies have been conducted outside the human bodies and found that Gilead’s...

Shares of Gilead Sciences were rising after the World Health Organization said the drugmaker's antiviral remdesivir may be effective against the coronavirus. The comments, which were reported by CNBC, came in a press conference at which the organization lauded the Chinese government for the measures it took to stem the spread of the virus. When identifying any drugs that could potentially combat the disease, WHO named the drug from Gilead Sciences. Remdesivir is an investigational antiviral that hasn't yet been approved anywhere globally for any use. However, Gilead Sciences has been working with global health officials in responding to the...

Pretend it’s 1960, and the Food and Drug Administration has just done something startling. It has taken a drug it had previously approved for infertility — brand name Enovid — and approved it for the opposite use: birth control. That pill — soon simply the Pill — triggered the sexual revolution. But not overnight. Doctors at first resisted giving it to unmarried women. Women were shy about carrying evidence that they actually planned to have sex. Feminists like Margaret Sanger and Katharine D. McCormick braved vilification to champion it. Madison Avenue chimed in: Ads featured Andromeda, the princess of Greek...

The most promising drug to potentially treat coronavirus -- Gilead Sciences' remdesivir -- is being given a second shot at clinical trials after three seriously-affected patients in the US treated with remdesivir recovered albeit with some side effects. According to a report in Statnews on Monday, remdesivir is now being tested in five COVID-19 clinical trials and the first trial results are expected next month. As of now, there are no approved therapies for any coronavirus infection, and "remdesivir is the farthest along in the development process of any candidate." "There's only one drug right now that we think may...

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., attempted to make a case for universal health care on Thursday after a tense confrontation over the HIV prevention drug known as PrEP. During a congressional hearing, Ocasio-Cortez pressed Gilead Sciences CEO Daniel O'Day on why his company's drug -- Truvada for PrEP -- cost so much more in the United States than in Australia. She later answered her own question on Twitter, saying that the U.S. health care system was to blame. "Spoiler: Because Australia has universal health care," she tweeted. During the hearing, O'Day responded to Ocasio-Cortez by noting how the drug was under...

American regulators granted approval on Wednesday to a gene-altering treatment for patients suffering from lymphoma, the second-ever approval for a gene therapy procedure and one that could revolutionize how we fight cancer. The drug, named Yescarta, was developed by Israeli-founded Kite Pharma and it is expected to cost some $373,000, likely generating hundreds of millions of dollars in sales. Kite was purchased by Gilead Sciences in August to the tune of $11.9 billion, and today’s breakthrough may have helped with the sale. The price of Yescarta is set below that of comparable treatments, according to Reuters, as Novartis AG’s gene...

Norwegian hepatitis C patients are waiting longer than they should for medical treatment due in part to a monopoly on its supply, according to a report. Between 15,000 and 20,000 Norwegians live with the chronic condition, which is treated with a 12-week course of medicine. The cost of a 12-week course of the Epclusa medicine in Norway is 540,000 kroner (€57,000), according to the Klassekampen newspaper. American pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences owns a monopoly on supply of the medicine in the Scandinavian country, according to the report. […] Ronny Bjørnestad, head of NGO Prolar, which works to improve understanding of...