Washington (AFP)

The United Kingdom and Germany assured Wednesday that they had sufficient stocks of the antiviral remdesivir, the first drug to have shown a relative effectiveness to treat Covid-19 and of which the United States bought the quasi- total production for the next three months.

The US government announced Monday 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 (each treatment requires 6.25 vials on average).

"President Trump has done an incredible deal for Americans to have access to the first authorized therapeutic treatment for Covid-19," said Health Minister Alex Azar as the country faces a surge in the pandemic and is already the most heavily affected in the world in death toll.

Gilead has set the price at $ 390 per vial in all developed countries, or $ 2,340 for normal treatment of six vials in five days, the company announced on Monday. Only US private insurers will pay more, $ 520 per bottle.

The drug was approved in the United States on May 1 after clinical trials showing that it reduced the recovery time for seriously ill Covid-19 patients by four days. Europe should allow it soon.

Washington's announcement had raised fears of a shortage of the drug in the rest of the world, but at least two European countries declared Wednesday not to be worried for their population. French health authorities were unable to respond to AFP's requests on Wednesday.

"The UK has been using remdesivir for a while, first in clinical trials and today as part of an early access drug program. The UK has a sufficient stock of remdesivir", a said a spokesperson for the British Prime Minister.

In Germany, "the government secured stocks of remdesivir early," said a spokesman for the Ministry of Health. "At present, there are sufficient reserves."

- Generic production -

For developing countries, Gilead has granted royalty-free licenses to nine generic manufacturers in India, Pakistan and Egypt. They will have the right to distribute their generic versions of remdesivir in 127 developing countries, at the price they choose as long as no other drug or vaccine is approved, which they will do "soon," says Gilead. to AFP.

The laboratory explains that for other countries, access to remdesivir will be based on the following priority criteria: "authorization from the regulatory authorities and incidence of the disease, then the severity of the disease, in order to treat patients who have the most urgent need for treatment. "

The remdesivir will be produced by Gilead factories in the United States but also by manufacturing partners in North America, Europe and Asia, adds the laboratory.

Gilead did not respond to any national contracts similar to that concluded with the United States.

In addition, says Farasat Bokhari, professor of economics at the University of East Anglia, at least one generic manufacturer in Bangladesh (Beximco) manufactures remdesivir without having obtained a license, under a clause of an agreement World Trade Organization intellectual property which allows developing countries to issue a "compulsory license".

The economist believes that there should not be a shortage, "because production in other countries will increase. The only problem is the speed with which they will do it."

"All countries should immediately announce a coordinated campaign of compulsory licenses for this drug and others against Covid-19, in order to allow companies to receive royalties but without allowing them to block the production of the necessary drugs", told AFP Matthew Kavanagh, health law expert at Georgetown University in Washington.

© 2020 AFP