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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 1, 2020
Contact: ASPR Press Office
202-730-0194
[email protected]

Veklury (remdesivir) Now Available Directly from Distributor following Trump Administration’s Successful Allocations to States and U.S. Territories

Beginning October 1, 2020, American hospitals can purchase Veklury (remdesivir) directly from the drug’s distributor. Veklury is an antiviral drug currently authorized for emergency use by healthcare providers to treat hospitalized adult and pediatric patients with suspected or laboratory-confirmed COVID-19. Over the past five months, the U.S. government has overseen the allocation and distribution of Veklury due to drug’s limited supply to ensure fair and equitable distribution to COVID-19 patients.

“In the months since Veklury showed promise against COVID-19, President Trump secured the vast majority of the manufacturer’s supplies for the American people, part of the administration’s work to manage scarce resources needed for fighting COVID-19,” said U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar. “Over the past five months, HHS rapidly, fairly, and equitably worked to distribute approximately 150,000 treatment courses of donated Veklury and make more than 500,000 treatment courses of the commercial drug available to help treat patients in U.S. hospitals.  Now, federal government oversight of the allocation of Veklury is not required because the drug is no longer a scarce resource—a tribute to progress we have made against COVID-19 and to the strength of our partnerships with the private sector.”

On October 1, 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revised the Emergency Use Authorization for Veklury removing the U.S. government’s role in directing the allocation of the drug. The revised EUA identifies Gilead Sciences, Inc. and its authorized distributors as the responsible parties for the distribution of Veklury.

The current supply of Veklury exceeds market demand as evidenced by recent allocation numbers from HHS’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR). ASPR’s records indicate that of the 500,000 treatment courses made available in the United States between July and September 2020, state and territorial health departments accepted 84 percent of their allocations (423,765 treatment courses); however, only 32 percent (160,981 treatment courses) of the total allocation was actually purchased by hospitals in their jurisdictions. Over the course of the project, ASPR allocated over 700,000 treatment courses, which included the reallocation of 200,000 treatment courses that were not initially accepted by state and territorial health departments.

Gilead anticipates producing sufficient quantities of Veklury to meet current needs and future demands from any waves of SARS-CoV-2 infections, the virus that causes COVID-19.

The cost of Veklury will not change in the transition from U.S. government oversight of allocation to direct commercial sales. Hospitals will continue to pay no more than Gilead’s wholesale acquisition price (WAC), approximately $3,200 per treatment course.

Generally, patients do not pay directly for hospital-administered drugs like Veklury; rather, for Medicare and most private insurers, the drug’s cost is incorporated into the overall treatment costs based on the patient’s diagnosis. 

AmerisourceBergen will remain the sole distributor of Veklury through the end of the year to ensure consistency and continuity of the distribution process.

Visit the ASPR website for more information about Veklury, the strategy used to allocate and distribute the drug prior to today’s action, and how much Veklury was allocated to states and U.S. territories between May and September 2020.

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Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other news materials are available at https://www.hhs.gov/news.
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Last revised: October 1, 2020

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