UK’s Hikma starts manufacturing remdesivir for Gilead for COVID-19 treatment

UK’s leading Pharmaceuticals company, Hikma, has started the manufacturing of the antiviral drug remdesivir proven to reduce mortality rate and expediting the recovery process in the critical hospitalized patients of COVID-19. In a press release online, the multinational pharmaceutical company updated that it signed a “non-exclusive supply agreement” with Gilead Sciences, Inc. to manufacture remdesivir. Additionally, the firm’s chief executive officer said that the first batches supply of the antiviral drug for the "undisclosed amount" will be distributed soon from its facility in Portugal, a news agency reported.  

On August 6, Hikma’s CEO, Siggi Olafsson reportedly said that the firm’s deal with Gilead is confidential, but the company has signed Hikma as a contract manufacturer to deliver the assigned orders of remdesivir. According to reports, the drugmaker has also signed an agreement with generic medicine makers in Egypt, India, and Pakistan to upscale the manufacture and supply of the breakthrough drug globally. In June, Gilead announced that it aimed to supply drug load for treatment of over 2 million COVID-19 patients worldwide, which was twice the firm’s initial target of over 1 million. 

Drug remdesivir has been associated with an improvement in clinical recovery and a 62 percent reduction in the risk of mortality compared with standard of care, according to Gilead’s Comparative Analysis of Clinical Recovery and Mortality Outcomes from the Phase 3 SIMPLE Trial. Medicine shortened hospital recovery times for extremely critical patients. However, due to the acute shortage of the drug recently, after the US purchased global supply from the US’ Gilead, another drug RLF-100 or aviptadil proven to be effective against the respiratory failure has been given an emergency use authorization in the US, the pharma company announced in a release with published results of phase II/III clinical trials. 

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Another drug RLF-100 proves effective

Discovered as the first-ever COVID therapeutic to block replication of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in human lung cells, and monocytes, RLF-100 is a patented formulation synthetic human Vasoactive Intestinal Polypeptide VIP, NeuroRx, Inc., and Relief Therapeutics Holdings AG announced in a statement. The drug is developed as Material Threat Medical Countermeasure in cooperation with the National Institutes of Health and federal agencies. RFL-100 has been found to save lives of COVID-19 patients with severe medical comorbidities within three days of treatment. 

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