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

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last updated 12 August 2020

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.

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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.

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