Pfizer will manufacture Gilead's emergency coronavirus drug remdesivir to scale up its supply

Gilead Sciences' potential coronavirus treatment is getting a supply chain boost.
Pfizer has entered a multi-year agreement with Gilead to manufacture its antiviral drug remdesivir, which has been FDA approved for emergency use to fight coronavirus, the pharmaceutical company announced Friday. The partnership is intended to ramp up production of the intravenous drug.
While no drug has been approved for the treatment of coronavirus, remdesivir has been approved for emergency use. A study showed the drug, which was developed as a potential Ebola treatment, significantly reduced the risk of death in severely sick COVID-19 patients. At the beginning of July, the Trump administration bought up all the remdesivir Gilead was set to produce in July, August, and September. Pfizer will start ramping up that production even further through contract manufacturing services at its McPherson, Kansas, facility.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Concerns still remain over the price of remdesivir. At $520 per dose, it could cost a patient $3,000 over a typical coronavirus treatment. State attorneys general have sought to enforce a federal patent law that would force Gilead to increase the supply of the drug and lower its price; the partnership with Pfizer will hopefully provide Gilead the bandwidth to do that.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
-
Today's political cartoons - February 18, 2025
Cartoons Tuesday's cartoons - Zelenskyy excluded, illiberal arts, and more
By The Week US Published
-
How will Keir Starmer pay for greater defence spending?
Today's Big Question Funding for courts, prisons, local government and the environment could all be at risk
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Ukraine's mineral riches and Trump's shakedown diplomacy
The Explainer President's demand for half of Kyiv's resources in return for past military aid amounts to 'mafia blackmail tactics' and 'colonialism'
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Ozempic can curb alcohol cravings, study finds
Speed read Weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy may also be helpful in limiting alcohol consumption
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
New form of H5N1 bird flu found in US dairy cows
Speed Read This new form of bird flu is different from the version that spread through herds in the last year
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Microplastics accumulating in human brains, study finds
Speed Read The amount of tiny plastic particles found in human brains increased dramatically from 2016 to 2024
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
FDA approves painkiller said to thwart addiction
Speed Read Suzetrigine, being sold as Journavx, is the first new pharmaceutical pain treatment approved by the FDA in 20 years
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Study finds possible alternative abortion pill
Speed Read An emergency contraception (morning-after) pill called Ella could be an alternative to mifepristone for abortions
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
California declares bird flu emergency
Speed Read The emergency came hours after the nation's first person with severe bird flu infection was hospitalized
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Bird flu one mutuation from human threat, study finds
Speed Read A Scripps Research Institute study found one genetic tweak of the virus could enable its spread among people
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Dark chocolate tied to lower diabetes risk
Speed Read The findings were based on the diets of about 192,000 US adults over 34 years
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published