Posted by Michael Wonder on 05 Aug 2020
State attorneys general: use federal law to lower cost, increase supply of COVID-19 drug remdesivir
4 August 2020 - A bipartisan coalition of attorneys general asked the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Tuesday to invoke a federal patent law to increase supply and lower prices of the COVID-19 drug remdesivir.
The group, led by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, said HHS, the Food and Drug Administration and National Institutes of Health should license Gilead Sciences’ antiviral to other manufacturers to ease potential shortages and lower the drug's price.
Gilead charges $3,120 for a five-day course for patients with private insurance, Medicare or Medicaid. Remdesivir supplies are "dangerously limited," and the price will "impede access to treatment" and strain state budgets, the attorneys general wrote in a letter to the federal agencies.
