AMSTERDAM: Euro­pean countries are facing shortages of Covid-19 drug remdesivir because limited supplies are running out, officials said, with cases surging and the United States having bought up most of drugmaker Gilead’s output.

In July, the 27 European Union countries and Britain, with a combined population of 500 million, secured doses to treat about 30,000 patients. The United States signed a deal for more than 500,000 courses of treatment, accounting for most of Gilead’s output through September.

“Remdesivir has run out,” Dutch Health Mini­stry spokesman Martijn Janssen said, adding however that new deliveries were expected shortly.

The antiviral drug has been shown to shorten hospital recovery time in severe cases of Covid-19. Remdesivir and the steroid dexamethasone are the only drugs authorised in Europe to treat Covid-19.

Published in Dawn, October 7th, 2020