Healthcare major Zydus Cadila has signed a non-exclusive licensing agreement with Gilead Sciences Inc for the manufacturing and distribution of Remdesivir, the investigational drug which has been issued an emergency use authorisation by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat patients suffering from severe symptoms of novel coronavirus.
Under the agreement, the license is royalty-free until another pharmaceutical product or vaccine is approved for the treatment or prevention of COVID-19 by the USFDA or the European Medicines Agency or the World Health Organisation announcing the end of the public health emergency.
Zydus said it will leverage its ability to scale up production to reach patients across India and across the 127 countries in Gilead's global patient solution region.
"Over the last decade, we have been partnering with Gilead Sciences to address various public healthcare challenges and improve global access to affordable need-based therapies," said Zydus Chairman Pankaj Patel.
"At this critical juncture, we join hands once again to ensure that no efforts are spared in the fight against this pandemic," he said in a statement. The pharma company has been supporting the fight against Covid-19 with therapeutics, vaccines and diagnostics.
Remdesivir is an investigational nucleotide analog with broad-spectrum antiviral activity both in vitro and in vivo in animal models against multiple emerging viral pathogens including Ebola, Marburg, MERS and SARS.
The vitro testing conducted by Gilead has demonstrated that Remdesivir is active against the virus that causes Covid-19. The safety and efficacy of Remdesivir to treat Covid-19 are being evaluated in multiple ongoing phase three clinical trials.
