Compassionate use, as Gilead noted in its Sunday statement, was not designed to facilitate widespread access to experimental drugs during a public health emergency.
So far, the biotech has provided remdesivir to “several hundred” patients sick with COVID-19 in the U.S., Europe and Japan.
But as the pandemic has intensified, so too has demand for remdesivir, which is viewed as particularly promising by both researchers and U.S. officials.
“In recent weeks, there has been an exponential increase in compassionate use requests for emergency access to remdesivir,” Gilead said in its statement.
