This archive report was first published on 4 July 2020.
On July 3, 2020, the European Commission granted conditional approval for the use of COVID-19 antiviral remdesivir, produced by Gilead Sciences Inc, following an accelerated review process.
The European Medicines Agency had begun a 'rolling review' of remdesivir at the end of April, reviewing data as it became available on a rolling basis while development was still ongoing.
Remdesivir, which is administered intravenously over at least a five-day period, has been shown to shorten hospital recovery times in clinical trials and is believed to be most effective in treating COVID-19 patients earlier in the course of the disease.
However, the European Commission may face challenges in obtaining doses of remdesivir for the 27 European Union countries, as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has secured all of Gilead's projected production for July and 90% of that for August and September.
