By
Godfrey Benjamin
November 20th, 2020
50,000 units of Remdesivir are ready for shipment. The drug has passed initial trials and has been proven to be effective in the treatment of COVID-19. Gilead (GILD) stock price is increasing.
Gilead Sciences Inc (NASDAQ: GILD) stock price has gone up in recent times. One of the reasons for today’s growth is the fact that the biomedical company has confirmed that about 50,000 units of its Remdesivir are ready to ship. At the time of writing, Gilead (GILD) stock price was $83.95 (+0.97%).
Gilead CEO Daniel O’Day indicated this. He said that the amount of the drug can be delivered if the drug receives its approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Gilead (GILD) Stock Price Reacts to Remdesivir’s Effectiveness
O’Day’s allusions come just hours after Dr. Anthony Fauci confirmed that Remdesivir was effective in COVID-19 treatments. Dr. Fauci is the Director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
The markets responded positively and started going back to normal after the announcement.
O’Day has also said that Gilead has been in touch with the FDA on this issue. The communications have picked up pace as the news continued to filter in.
This comes as good news as the COVID-19 situation has grounded the world to a halt. The introduction of at least one drug could potentially signal that things will return to some sort of normalcy.
Formal approval from the FDA is still months away. The FDA has indicated a willingness to approve the medication for use in emergencies.
Many within the scientific community are urging caution on the use of experimental drugs without comprehensive testing. This approach seems the likely route to take in normal situations. Things, however, haven’t been normal for the past 90 days.
The U.S. trials came back positive and generated some controversy. Similar trials were also occurring in China and indicated reverse results. Those trials were stopped though due to an insufficient number of participants.
Eyebrows Are Raised
Many have faulted how the results of the trials were announced. Gilead was the first to announce them. The U.S. government wanted to announce the results later in the day but O’Day went ahead to do so. He indicated the positive results in a Press Release in the early hours of Wednesday.
This presents a potential conflict of interest in many respects. Gilead is a member of the committee that supervises the trials. O’ Day has defeated his moves saying:
“It was all very quick. We acted very ethically.”
Gilead is in talks with the U.S. Government for allocations of the limited supply of the drug. The most severe cases shall receive attention first.
Gilead has been working on ways to increase Remdesivir’s supply. O’Day has targeted at least one million patients at the end of 2020. Studies from Gilead show that 5-day courses of treatment are as effective as 10-day courses.
The reduction in the treatment period will allow more patients to be reached. Gilead is already developing an inhalable version of Remdesivir. O’Day, however, hasn’t given any indications on when the drug will reach human trials.
While this is good news, the best is yet to come. One of these days, companies like Gilead will break the impasse and come up with a solution that will end the coronavirus pandemic. This time, such a solution will be once, for all.
