Gilead’s remdesivir has seen success against the coronavirus. Now the company has to make enough to supply the world

In January, Gilead Sciences wasn’t manufacturing more than a few doses of its experimental antiviral remdesivir. The drug wasn’t being studied in any major clinical trials. The company had enough on hand to treat 5,000 people.

A few months and the onset of one coronavirus pandemic later, demand for remdesivir is booming. A study run by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases showed that patients with Covid-19 who were given the drug recovered faster than those who were given a placebo, the agency said this week. Regulators have not yet approved the drug — though an emergency authorization is reportedly imminent — but the company now stands in the position of having to scale up production of a drug that the whole world may want.

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