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Originally through Gilead Sciences
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gilead’s first antiviral has been manufactured for more than 11 million patients worldwide, more than 65% of whom live in low- and lower-middle-income (LLLP) countries.
Gilead has focused on virology and progression studies for more than 35 years. Gilead has a team committed to ongoing studies on emerging viruses and antiviral therapies, which aggregates through a diversity of strategic partnerships, to ensure we are well placed to respond to emerging viruses. and long-term viral threats. Thanks to these studies, we had to move temporarily to publish studies on COVID-19 when the novel coronavirus emerged in early 2020. Equally important, decades of investment in collaborative partnerships around the world have led us to temporarily deliver this antiviral treatment to others who want it, anywhere in the world.
In fact, together with our partners, Gilead has been answering the real-time global call for our COVID-19 remedy since October 2020, just months after the virus first sequenced. This gave patients a life-saving remedy option at a time when other treatments were still being tested and vaccines were months away.
How did we do that? Our production team has worked to reduce production time in part and expand our global network of internal production sites and external organizations, adding partnerships with industry peers. This network now includes more than 40 corporations in North America, Europe and Asia: the fastest imaginable arrangement to meet global demand.
And based on our long history with HIV and hepatitis, we know that partnership approaches are the most effective and resilient strategy for facilitating access to remedies in under-resourced settings. That’s why we were able to identify several voluntary licensing agreements for our COVID-19 with generic brands at LLMIC (Egypt, India, and Pakistan) as early as May 2020, even before the U. S. FDA was in the pipeline. The U. S. Department of Health granted full regulatory approval for our remedy. .
This physically powerful global network is also helping to maintain the resilience of the production process, even in times of significant supply chain disruptions, such as those caused by COVID-19. For example, Delta’s rise in India in 2021, Gilead’s voluntary licensees in that country faced shortages of a vital component used in the production process. Gilead stepped in to advance production by connecting licensees directly with brands that can still source this critical ingredient.
We further support India’s response to the outbreak by donating over 450,000 vials of our COVID-19 drug to reduce the immediate need for treatment, while supporting authorized partners as batch sizes increase, add new production services and/or incorporate cross-country contract production services.
Gilead also provided support to volunteer licensees founded in Pakistan and Egypt to increase production, as well as donating active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for another 400,000 vials. peak period.
We compare global access efforts employing very giant numbers: In 2020 alone, Gilead invested a billion dollars in R.
While we work with our partners to enable access, Gilead is also running to help ensure patient safety. Gilead’s anti-counterfeiting team initiated extensive investigations, made several purchases of checks for counterfeit versions of Gilead-branded COVID-19 remedy around the world, and reported those instances to law enforcement. We continue to assist ongoing law enforcement efforts and rely on intellectual asset rights to prevent this illicit and destructive trade.
Patients are others whose lives take an immense toll on their families and communities, and we take pride in addressing their pressing need for treatment. Similarly, with respect to our other voluntary licensing partners, we know that we will not succeed in the other person who wants our medicines if we only license intellectual assets and leave. We work hand in hand sharing generation and technology, building internal capabilities, solving problems as they arise and celebrating successes.
The innovation ecosystem has enabled Gilead to be in a position to combat COVID-19 thanks to 30 years of investment in antiviral research. We know that COVID-19 will not be the last pandemic the world faces. Gilead scientists are constantly striving to invent new small molecules, biologics, and mobile treatments to generate a vast library of varied-generation platforms that can be accessed and tested against new pathogens and targets as they emerge. With the support of our global network of partners, those inventions may one day save lives. For our organization, this is the way forward to ensure pandemic preparedness and equitable access to treatment.
Mike Boyd is senior vice president of Government and Political Affairs at Gilead.
Originally through Gilead Sciences
Gilead Sciences, Inc. es a research-based biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and commercializes cutting-edge medicines in spaces of unmet medical need. The company strives to simplify the care of others with life-threatening illnesses around the world. Gilead has operations in more than 35 countries around the world, headquartered in Foster City, California.
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