The European Commission today signed a contract of 70 million euros with the pharmaceutical company Gilead to supply 500 thousand doses of antiviral remdesivir, the first medicine authorized in the European Union (EU) for COVID-19.
In a statement, the community executive reports on the signing of a “framework contract for joint acquisitions with the pharmaceutical company Gilead for the supply of up to 500 thousand treatment doses of Veklury, the remdesivir brand”.
Budgeted at €70 million, the contract, under European support from the Emergency Support Instrument, was signed by the European Commission on behalf of all EU countries, the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and six candidate countries and potential candidates (Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina).
This means that “all participating countries can now place their orders to purchase Veklury directly”, explains Brussels in the press release.
The antiviral remdesivir, officially designated as Veklury, is the only drug with conditional marketing authorization in the EU for the treatment of COVID-19 patients who need an oxygen supply.
This new contract comes after a previous one between the Commission and the pharmaceutical company Gilead to ensure 33,380 doses of Veklury treatment, which have been distributed across the EU and the UK since August.
The objective is that, with the new doses acquired, it will be possible to “cover the immediate needs from August to October, to ensure that critically ill patients receive treatments”, the community executive said.
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