Brussels: The European Commission said that it has signed a 63 million-euro contract with American pharmaceutical company Gilead to secure doses of Veklury, the brand name for Remdesivir, for the treatment of COVID-19.
The Commission said in a statement on Wednesday that batches of Veklury will be made available to the EU member states and the UK from early August, reports Xinhua news agency.
Remdesivir was the first medicine authorized at the EU level for treatment of COVID-19 after the European Commission fast-tracked the request for authorization earlier this month. At the time, media reported that the US had locked down all the production for July and 90 per cent of it for August and September. But EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Stella Kyriakides was upbeat about the drug reaching Europe. (IANS)
