"France has ensured the availability of sufficient doses" of the antiviral remdesivir, the first drug to be shown to be relatively effective in treating Covid-19, says the Medicines Agency (ANSM), while the States United States purchased almost all of the production for the next few months.
The US government announced a week ago that it had acquired 92% of all production of remdesivir by the Gilead laboratory from July to September, or about 500,000 treatments out of nearly 550,000.
Conditional marketing authorization
"In order to secure access to the drug remdesivir on the national territory, France has ensured the availability of sufficient doses from the Gilead laboratory," said ANSM, interviewed by AFP. "This will allow Covid-19 patients to continue to benefit from this treatment," she added.
This antiviral received conditional marketing authorization in the European Union on July 3, less than a month after filing the application. This procedure allows drugs "that meet an unmet medical need" to be marketed with less complete data than expected, if the estimated benefit is greater than the known risks.
130 patients already treated in hospital with this treatment
It had already been approved in the United States on May 1 after clinical trials showing that it reduced by four days the recovery time for seriously ill Covid-19 patients.
Remdesivir was previously available in France as part of clinical trials, or through compassionate use in patients who could not be included in the trials.
Since January 2020, 130 patients have been treated with this treatment in hospital outside of clinical trials, specifies the ANSM.
390 dollars per bottle
Washington's announcement had raised fears of a drug shortage in the rest of the world, but Germany and the United Kingdom also assured themselves of having sufficient stocks to treat their patients.
Gilead set the price at $ 390 per vial in all developed countries, or $ 2,340 for normal treatment of six vials in five days.
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