This archive report was first published on 9 July 2020.
Kenya is set to receive a new drug that has been found to shorten the recovery period of COVID-19 patients.
Remdesivir, a drug developed to treat Ebola, has been approved for emergency use on COVID-19 patients and has shown promise in treating the disease.
It is one of two drugs that can work against the virus, the other being dexamethasone.
Remdesivir is in high demand after it helped shorten hospital recovery times in clinical trials.
It is said to be more effective in treating COVID-19 in its earlier stages than other therapies like the steroid dexamethasone.
Kenya is among 126 low-income and lower-middle-income countries identified by Gilead Sciences to receive generic versions of the drug.
The European Commission has given conditional approval for the use of Remdesivir in severe COVID-19 patients, making it the region's first COVID-19 therapy.
Remdesivir has also been approved as a COVID-19 therapy in Japan, Taiwan, India, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates.
Under a non-exclusive voluntary licensing agreement, pharmaceutical manufacturers in India and Pakistan can produce and sell the treatment at a substantially lower cost.
