why are we still talking about hydroxychloroquine?
the anti-malaria drug has lost its allure as studies repeatedly show it doesn't treat covid-19.
as u.s. buys up remdesivir, ‘vaccine nationalism’ threatens access to covid-19 treatments
at the end of june, the united states government announced that it had secured the entire supply of remdesivir, an antiviral drug that shortens hospital stays for covid-19 patients, until september.in march, there were reports that donald trump's administration tried to buy a german company working on a covid-19 vaccine in order to secure the entire supply for the u.s. a group formed by france, germany, italy and the netherlands struck a deal in the past few weeks to secure 400 million doses of astrazeneca's potential vaccine, although other countries are also encouraged to join the group on the same terms.
the serum institute of india has entered a licensing agreement with astrazeneca to acquire one billion doses of astrazeneca's potential covid-19 vaccine for lmics, with a commitment to provide 400 million doses before the end of 2020 .
it's estimated that remdesivir could be made for under us$1 a dose, less than a quarter of one per cent of what gilead will be charging.
of course, under the new deal between the u.s. and gilead, there won't be any remdesivir for canada to buy until the end of september.
gilead controls the supply of remdesivir because it holds the patent on the drug.
canadian government has yet to place orders for leading potential covid vaccines
one expert said canada could find itself at the back of the line, if it doesn’t move quickly to secure some of the leading vaccines in development