UK green lights NHS emergency access to remdesivir for severe COVID-19 patients

Under the Early Access to Medicines Scheme (EAMS), the UK’s Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) announced today that adults and teenagers with severe COVID-19 will be allowed to be treated with remdesivir if they fit specific criteria under the National Health Service (NHS).

The drug, originally developed by US biotech Gilead Sciences (Nasdaq: GILD) as a potential treatment of Ebola, is currently undergoing clinical trials around the world in the novel coronavirus setting, including in the UK, with early data showing it can shorten the time to recovery by about four days.

“Selected NHS coronavirus patients will soon be able to access a treatment to speed up their recovery. Thanks to the joined-up efforts of the UK government, the devolved administrations, pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences, the NHS, and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the anti-viral drug remdesivir will be made available to patients meeting certain clinical criteria to support their recovery in hospital,” according to an MRRA statement.