Cuba Bets Big On An Old Antiviral As It Tries To Find Its Place Amid Global Treatment, Vaccine Race
The treatment has long been used internationally to treat dengue fever, cancer and hepatitis B and C. Studies during the SARS epidemic in 2003 suggested interferons might also be useful against coronaviruses. In other pharma news: patents, global remdesivir use, and hope from doctors.
Reuters:
With Castro-Era Biotech, Cuba Seeks To Compete In Coronavirus Treatment Race
Communist-run Cuba, laboring under a six-decade U.S. embargo, is betting a biotech sector begun by late revolutionary leader Fidel Castro can give the Caribbean island an edge in a global race to find effective treatments for the new coronavirus. (Marsh, 5/13)
Stat:
World Health Assembly Resolution Boosts Access To Covid-19 Drugs
World Health Assembly negotiators have agreed on a draft resolution that ensures countries can navigate patent rights for Covid-19 medical products, a victory for those supporting wider access to drugs, diagnostics, and vaccines. Although the language could still change, the document mentions a voluntary pool, which would collect patent rights, regulatory test data, and other information that could be shared for developing medical products. The European Union last month asked the assembly, which is the governing body of the World Health Organization, to adopt the idea, and WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has already voiced support. (Silverman, 5/13)
Reuters:
Japan Says Drugmaker Gilead's COVID-19 Treatment Remdesivir Now In Use In Hospitals
Ministry official Yasuyuki Sahara said in an e-mail on Thursday that the U.S. firm’s treatment has been distributed to hospitals in Japan since May 11 and is being used for patients in intensive care or those on ventilators. Sahara said the amount of remdesivir delivered by the drugmaker wasn’t public information, and that global supplies were “quite limited”. California-based Gilead has pledged to donate the first 1.5 million doses of remdesivir. A company spokesperson said that a portion of that supply had been given to the Japanese government, without being more specific. (Swift, 5/14)
The Washington Post:
Doctors Express Hope As They Look To Limited Coronavirus Treatments
Jose Pascual, a critical care doctor at the University of Pennsylvania Health System, recalled those first, mad days treating the sick when he had little to offer beyond hunches and Hail Marys. Each new day brought bizarre new complications of the coronavirus that defied textbook treatments. “We were flying blind,” he said. “There is nothing more disturbing for me as a doctor.” (Cha, 5/13)
