Pfizer to Manufacture Gilead's Remdesivir for Covid-19 Treatment
07 Agosto 2020 - 12:32PM
Dow Jones News
By Matt Grossman
Pfizer Inc. has signed a multiyear deal to manufacture
remdesivir, an antiviral medication developed by Gilead Sciences
Inc. that has been approved for limited use as a treatment for
Covid-19.
Pfizer plans to produce remdesivir, which has been in short
supply, at its Kansas facility.
The drug, first developed as a potential treatment for hepatitis
C, interferes with the virus's ability to replicate in a patient's
cells. Federal and state agencies have decided how to apportion the
treatment among hospitals as demand exceeded its availability
during the pandemic.
Gilead's manufacturing network for remdesivir now includes more
than 40 companies in North America, Europe and Asia, Gilead said
Thursday. Supply has grown more than 50-fold since January, when
the new coronavirus first led to an outbreak of Covid-19 in
China.
Gilead plans to produce 2 million additional remdesivir
treatment courses by the end of the year, which would allow it to
meet global demand in real time starting in October, the company
said.
Meanwhile, Novavax Inc., which is developing a vaccine for the
new coronavirus, also reached deals this week to ramp up
production. Novavax will license the vaccine technology to Takeda
Pharmaceutical Co., which anticipates the capacity to make more
than 250 million doses of the vaccine a year with funding from the
Japanese government, the companies said. Takeda will be responsible
for regulatory approvals in Japan and Novavax will receive payments
based on milestones and a portion of proceeds from the vaccine, the
companies said.
Novavax has also licensed its vaccine candidate to Serum
Institute of India Pvt. Ltd., giving the company the rights to
produce the Novavax vaccine for India and for low- and
middle-income countries. That deal could support the production of
1 billion doses of the vaccine, Novavax said.
A Phase 1 trial of Novavax's vaccine showed its potential to
create a robust immune response, the company said Tuesday.
Write to Matt Grossman at matt.grossman@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 07, 2020 11:17 ET (15:17 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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