The abipartisan state advocacy group on Tuesday urged the United States government to allow other companies to perform Gilead Sciences' COVID-19 treatment, remdesivir, to increase its availability and lower the price of the antiviral drug.
The coalition of more than 30 state attorneys general asked the government to act or allow states to do so, saying in a letter to US health agencies that Gilead "has not set a reasonable price" to rebuff.
In the letter, the coalition, led by Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry and California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, urged RemdesivirFINALLetter202008041.pdf to the federal government to exercise its rights under the Bayh-Dole Act and license remdesivir to external manufacturers to increase production .
The letter was addressed to the heads of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the National Institutes of Health, and the Food and Drug Administration.
Gilead and health agencies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The U.S. government, which provided some financial backing for the drug's development, signed an agreement with Gilead in June for more than 500,000 treatment courses, accounting for the majority of the company's production through September.
Gilead agreed to ship almost all of its remdesivir supply to the United States between July and September, according to HHS. The agency and states are managing the drug allocation to US hospitals during that period.
The government said it would receive around 94,000 treatment courses in July, 175,000 in August, and another 233,000 in September.
Still, the drug has been in short supply since the US USA in May, and hospital employees and politicians have complained of difficulties accessing it.
"The shipments are coordinated by the federal government and we have a bad disconnect between what they think we need and what we really need," US Senator Marco Rubio of Florida tweeted last month before announcing an additional assignment to his state. affected.
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