Gilead has chosen Esteve and Uquifa to participate in the production of Remdesivir. This decision is part of the expansion plan for the production of this drug and demonstrates, according to the company, the relevant role that Spain plays in both research and drug production.

For Gilead, increasing production capacity has been one of the company’s priorities since Remdesivir was identified as a drug that could contribute to the control of this pandemic.

At the beginning of the year, only 5,000 doses had been manufactured because it was an investigational drug. Since then, Gilead has put all its efforts into researching the efficacy and safety of this drug while increasing its production at risk. Gilead has managed to cut Remdesivir’s manufacturing time in half, from 12 months to just six, and has increased production by a factor of 40, which will allow more than 2 million treatments to be available by the end of this year. This is particularly important considering the complexity of the Remdesivir production process.

To achieve all this progress, the company has invested more than $1 billion in the entire drug development process, which includes both clinical research and production improvements.

Last April, Gilead announced the donation of its entire production through June, which has been 1.5 million vials, equivalent to 240,000 treatments. Taking into account the price of the treatment announced by Gilead, this donation would be equivalent to $585 million.

Remdesivir is currently available in Spain through the Spanish Medicines Agency as a special status drug.