U.S. Buys The World’s Supply Of Breakthrough Coronavirus Drug Remdesivir

TOPLINE

Alex Azar, United States Secretary of Health and Human Services boasted of President Trump’s “amazing deal” that has bought the world’s entire supply of Gilead Sciences’ Remdesivir, a drug that some research suggests could speed the recovery of coronavirus patients. 

KEY FACTS

KEY QUOTE

“President Trump has struck an amazing deal to ensure Americans have access to the first authorized therapeutic for COVID-19,” said HHS Secretary Alex Azar in a statement. “To the extent possible, we want to ensure that any American patient who needs Remdesivir can get it. 

Key background

The Federal Drug Administration authorized emergency approval in May for the antiviral drug in May after early research showed that it could help patients infected with coronavirus recover faster. 

The battle for access to a potentially crucial treatment plays out against the backdrop of Europe’s recovery from the pandemic, a surge of new infections in the U.S., and President Donald Trump’s reflexive nativism. The Trump administration’s trade war and diplomacy has repeatedly taxed even some of the U.S’s most long standing alliances, and the White House’s attempt in March to lure German company CuraVac to produce a coronavirus vaccine exclusively for Americans with financial incentives caused uproar.

Tangent

The U.S. has been the world’s worst affected nation and as 47,000 new cases of coronavirus were reported on Tuesday, the worst single day since the start of the pandemic, according to the New York Times.