Gilead Sciences Inc’s potential COVID-19 treatment remdesivir could bring in $7 billion in sales by 2022 as governments stockpile the drug for possible future outbreaks.
The drug has shown improvement in COVID-19 patients in clinical trials, and has been approved for emergency usage in severely ill patients in the U.S., India, and South Korea. Some European nations are using it for compassionate use.
The U.S. drugmaker has yet to set a price for the intravenous drug, but an estimate put the cost at $5,000 per course in the United States, $4,000 per course in Europe, and $2,000 per course elsewhere.
Remedesivir has yet to achieve formal U.S. approval, but commercial sales could begin later this year. Government stockpiling is expected to begin late next year and half of the forecasted sales of nearly $7.7 billion in 2022 could come from stockpiling contracts.
A vaccine is expected to be gradually adopted, yet unlikely to stop government stockpiling of the Gilead drug.
See the complete story at Reuters.