The US government is sending a “surge” supply of coronavirus drug remdesivir to areas that need it most, FDA commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn said Sunday, according to The New York Post.
The Department of Health and Human Services will hand out the medication “to the areas that most need it”, Hahn was quoted as having told CNN’s “State of the Union”.
“We have been in touch with the states and the localities to surge remdesivir to the areas that most need it,” he added.
“And we are receiving that feedback and then shipping remdesivir, so that it’s available for people who need it.”
At least two major US studies have shown that remdesivir can reduce the duration of hospital stays for COVID-19 patients.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized the emergency use of the medicine -- which was originally intended as a treatment for Ebola -- on May 1, followed by several Asian nations including Japan and South Korea.
On Friday, the European Commission authorized the use of remdesivir to treat the new coronavirus.
“This virus is still with us,” Hahn said in his remarks on Sunday, adding that “this is why the public health message about how to protect yourself and others is so important.”
But, he said, the US is in a “fundamentally different place” than it was in March or April, in part thanks to drugs like remdesivir.
“We have new therapeutics that we didn’t have at the time, so treatments, remdesivir, steroids, and this plasma program, where over 28,000 people have been treated,” continued Hahn.
“So, those are the sort of things that are different. More testing capacity, more therapeutics and those things are, so fundamentally different, but still a concerning trend,” he said, adding, “Really, we can stop this by following the guidelines.”