EU Buys Remdesivir to Treat 30,000 COVID Patients, Seeks More

EU Buys Remdesivir to Treat 30,000 COVID Patients, Seeks More
A lab technicians holds the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) treatment drug "Remdesivir" at Eva Pharma Facility in Cairo, Egypt, on June 25, 2020. Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters
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BRUSSELS—The European Union’s executive said on Wednesday it had agreed to buy a limited supply of the COVID-19 medicine remdesivir from U.S. drugmaker Gilead to address the short-term needs of European patients, and hoped to be able to order more later.

The anti-viral is the only drug so far authorized in the EU to treat patients with severe symptoms of COVID-19, but nearly all available supplies have already been bought by the United States.