Gilead will increase the number of doses of remdesivir it's donating to the federal government in the next six weeks, STAT reported.
The drugmaker had planned to donate 607,000 vials of remdesivir — the drug that received FDA emergency approval for use in treating COVID-19 patients after it was shown to shorten recovery time in patients with the virus — in the next six weeks, but now plans to donate 940,000, according to a letter an HHS official sent to governors May 16.
Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, gave a copy of the letter to STAT and said "there was no explanation of the change."
In a May 18 call with leaders of physician and hospital groups, Robert Kadlec, MD, the HHS assistant secretary for preparedness and response, said HHS would receive the additional doses of remdesivir from Gilead in June, two people on the call told STAT.
The additional doses would be enough to treat 30,000 to 55,000 more COVID-19 patients.
HHS has been using data from hospitals to get an idea of where to distribute remdesivir, but this week's request for data was canceled May 18, the day it was due. HHS said it didn't need more data at the moment, but that it intends to ask for updated data in the next few weeks.
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