Remdesivir was the first medication approved for use in treating COVID-19 and one of the most expensive.
The drug is priced at $3,120 for a five-day treatment under private health insurance plans, and for U.S. government health programs, the cost is $2,340 per regimen.
In treatment guidelines published by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), remdesivir is recommended: “for the treatment of COVID-19 in patients who do not require supplemental oxygen and who are at high risk of progressing to severe disease.”
However, remdesivir has a complex history.
A vial of the investigational drug remdesivir is visually inspected at a Gilead manufacturing site in March 2020. (Gilead Sciences via AP)
Who Made Remdesivir?
Gilead, a pharmaceutical giant, began researching the drug we now know as remdesivir in 2009, intending to make a drug that would treat hepatitis C or respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)….