Veklury Remains Available in Europe for COVID-19 Patients

California-based Gilead Sciences and the European Commission (EC) recently signed a joint procurement agreement (JPA) that will ensure continued access to Veklury® (remdesivir) across the European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA).

The agreement covers purchases of Veklury over the next twelve months and has the option to be extended for an additional six months.

The original JPA agreement was signed in October 2020.

Veklury is a nucleotide analog that directly inhibits viral replication inside the cell by targeting the SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA polymerase. 

In vitro laboratory testing in multiple independent studies show that Veklury continues to retain activity against SARS-CoV2 as it evolves, including the Omicron variant and its subvariants BA.1 and BA.2.

Johanna Mercier, Chief Commercial Officer, Gilead Sciences, stated in a press release on July 19, 2022, "Veklury is the antiviral standard-of-care treatment for appropriate hospitalized patients across a spectrum of COVID-19 disease severity."

"It has helped hundreds of thousands of European patients recover faster and reduce hospital stays, generating savings for healthcare systems."

"Following the recently expanded indication to patients at risk for disease progression, Veklury now has the potential to help even more patients."

"We are pleased this JPA will help ensure Veklury is available for patients when they need it."

In the EU and EEA, Veklury is the only antiviral indicated for the treatment of COVID-19 in adult and adolescent patients with pneumonia requiring supplemental oxygen.

In December 2021, the EC expanded the indication for Veklury to include adults who do not require supplemental oxygen and are at an increased risk of progressing to severe COVID-19.

To date, Veklury and generic remdesivir have been made available to more than 11 million patients worldwide, including in the USA.

On June 15, 2022, the U.S. CDC published: Interim Clinical Considerations for COVID-19 Treatment in Outpatients.

Note: This information was manually curated for mobile readers.