US buys out world’s supply of drug used to treat COVID19

This morning, I awoke to the infuriating news that supplies of remdesivir, a drug developed for treatment of Ebola and is currently being used to treat patients with COVID19, has been depleted, because the US has bought all the stocks for July and most for August and September too.

This is obviously problematic. Remdesivir is produced by Gilead Sciences which is based in California, who also have a patent in European countries, including the UK, which means that generic versions of remdesivir that are produced can’t be sold here. This means we will be without a drug that is potentially life-saving for 3 months.

There may be a few ways around it, such as obtaining a compulsory license so that we can buy stocks from other countries who produce generic versions, or using “buyer’s clubs” which allow people to buy in drugs despite a patent, however this would be in significantly lower quantities than if we could source the drug normally. These things take time and cost money and, when you’re battling a pandemic, time is of the essence. We’ve already had to put one city back in lockdown and I’m worried that mine will be too, especially because my region was one of the hardest hit outside London.

So, my questions to you is, do you think that it’s okay/right/fair for the US to buy global stocks of a drug that is currently being used in a pandemic, leaving other countries in the dark?

If you think it is fair, is that because it is produced in the US?

In future, how do you think drugs should be sold and dispatched in a global crisis such as this? Should a third party be involved to distribute drugs accordingly? Should patents be null and void?

Really interested to hear people’s opinions and thoughts about it, no matter what they are!