This archive report was first published on 13 May 2020.
Published on May 13, 2020, Gilead Sciences, an American biopharmaceutical company, has signed non-exclusive voluntary licensing agreements with five generic pharmaceutical manufacturers in India and Pakistan to expand the supply of Remdesivir.
The licensed manufacturers, Cipla Ltd., Ferozsons Laboratories, Hetero Labs Ltd., Jubilant Lifesciences, and Mylan, will produce the drug for distribution in low-income and lower-middle-income countries, as well as several upper-middle- and high-income countries facing healthcare obstacles amid the coronavirus pandemic.
According to Gilead, the licenses will remain free of royalties until the World Health Organization declares an end to the Public Health Emergency of International Concern in regards to COVID-19, or until a different pharmaceutical product or a vaccine is approved to treat or prevent COVID-19.
The agreements also grant the companies the right to receive a technology transfer of the Gilead manufacturing process for the drug, enabling them to scale up production, and set their own prices for the generic product they produce.
On May 1, 2020, the Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use authorization for Gilead's Remdesivir drug to treat COVID-19.
The agreements permit distribution to 127 countries, including Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Madagascar, Somalia, Sudan, Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Ethiopia, Egypt, Cameroon, and Zimbabwe.
Gilead Sciences Inc. is an American biopharmaceutical company, with its headquarters in Foster City, California, researching, developing, and commercializing drugs, primarily focusing on antiviral drugs used in the treatment of HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and influenza.
