Nigeria in talks to buy coronavirus treatment drug, Remdesivir

Nigeria is in the process of obtaining the US FDA-approved coronavirus treatment drug, remdesivir, for use on patients in the country, according to Chikwe Ihekweazu, the director-general of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorised emergency use of the Ebola drug, remdesivir, for treating the coronavirus Friday, after a clinical trial showed patients on the drug recovered 31 percent faster than those on a placebo. That translates to shaving four days off the typical hospital stay among these patients.

It is the first drug to show a clinical benefit for COVID-19 patients in a high-quality randomized study.

“It’s a victory for science as it is the first drug to show clinical evidence of efficacy,” Chikwe Ihekweazu, director-general of the NCDC, said in an interview on Channels Television, Sunday.

“What we now need to do is gain access to the drug. It’s a difficult process but we have started those conversations to enable access to Nigerians. We will speak to NAFDAC to speed up the regulatory process so that we can make this drug available to Nigerians,” Ihekweazu said.

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Gilead Sciences Inc-maker of the remdesivir is now scrambling to supply enough of the drug to fuel clinical studies and emergency use for patients with the virus. The California-based biotech company said it expects to have more than one million remdesivir treatment courses manufactured by December, “with plans to be able to produce several million treatment courses in 2021.”

Gilead’s stock was on a year in the past week amid encouraging clinical trial data only for it to make a reversal and post a 5 percent decline Friday.

Some experts have warned the drug – which was originally developed to treat Ebola, should not be seen as a “magic bullet” for coronavirus.

The drug interferes with the virus’s genome, disrupting its ability to replicate.

Nigeria has reported the fifth highest number of cases of the virus in Africa with 2558 confirmed cases as of May 4, although 400 persons have recovered while 87 are dead.