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Gilead gained in premarket trading as European Commission approved a variation to the Conditional Marketing Authorization for Veklury.Gilead Sciences, Inc. today announced that the European Commission (EC) has approved a variation to the Conditional Marketing Authorization for Veklury® (remdesivir) to include adults who do not require supplemental oxygen and are at an increased risk of progressing to severe COVID-19. This decision follows the positive recommendation of the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP), the scientific committee of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), to expand the indication for Veklury on December 16.

"As the rates of COVID-19 climb again and new variants like Omicron emerge, we need effective tools like Veklury to treat various stages of the disease," said Roger Paredes, MD, PhD, Chief Infectious Diseases Department, and IrsiCaixa AIDS Research Institute Hospital Universitari Germans Trias I Pujol Badalona, Spain. "We can now use Veklury to help prevent high-risk patients from progressing to more severe disease, even when they do not require oxygen, as well as continue to utilize Veklury as a key tool in the treatment of severe disease. This latest approval will also help to relieve some of the pressure on healthcare systems that are already under significant strain from the burden of COVID-19."

The EC’s decision is supported by results from a Phase 3 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a three-day course of Veklury for intravenous (IV) use for the treatment of COVID-19 in non-hospitalized patients at high risk for disease progression. In an analysis of 562 participants randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive Veklury or placebo, Veklury demonstrated a statistically significant 87% reduction in risk for the composite primary endpoint of COVID-19 related hospitalization or all-cause death by Day 28 (0.7% [2/279]) compared with placebo (5.3% [15/283]) p=0.008. In the study, no deaths were observed in either arm by Day 28. The safety profile was similar between Veklury and placebo across the variety of outpatient settings in this trial, with the most common treatment emergent adverse events (≥5%) in patients taking Veklury being nausea and headache. These data have also been shared with other regulatory agencies around the world and submitted for scientific peer-reviewed publication.

This expanded indication in the EU adds to the previous Conditional Marketing Authorization of Veklury enabling the treatment of COVID-19 in adults and adolescents (aged 12 to less than 18 years and weighing at least 40 kg) with pneumonia requiring supplemental oxygen (low- or high-flow oxygen or other non-invasive ventilation at start of treatment).

"The swift action of the European Commission is a testament to the need for effective treatments that can be used earlier in the course of disease to help people with COVID-19 across Europe," said Merdad Parsey, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Medical Officer, Gilead Sciences. "As we learn more about how COVID-19 disease progresses, it is clear that an antiviral like Veklury can have a significant impact if used early in the course of disease. As the antiviral standard of care for patients hospitalized with COVID-19, we are proud of the role Veklury continues to play on the front lines of the pandemic, and we believe Veklury will now be able to help more patients decrease their time to recovery from COVID-19 in Europe."