WHO expands recommendation for use of COVID-19 antiviral Veklury

The World Health Organization’s (WHO)  Therapeutics and COVID-19: living guideline, which now conditionally recommends Veklury (remdesivir) for the treatment of patients with severe COVID-19, now continues to conditionally recommend Veklury in those with non-severe COVID-19 at the highest risk of hospitalization.

Developed by US biotech major Gilead Sciences (Nasdaq: GILD), the antiviral was the first to gain full US Food and Drug Administration approval for the treatment of COVID-19 patients, but has not been the most successful. That title goes to Pfizer’s (NYSE: PFE) Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir and ritonavir tablets), for which peak sales of $30.7 billion in 2022 are forecast.

Veklury sales decreased by 46% to $445 million for the second quarter of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021. Gilead has most recently forecast total Veklury sales of approximately $2.5 billion for full-year 2022.