A staff member handles nucleic acid testing samples at a novel coronavirus detection lab in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, Feb. 22, 2020.Photo:Xinhua

Gilead Sciences has been working in consultation with regulatory authorities to establish additional expanded access programs for Remdesivir, its investigational medicine for COVID-19.

Daniel O'Day, Gilead's CEO said on Saturday that the programs will enable hospitals or physicians to apply for emergency use of Remdesivir for multiple severely ill patients at a time.

The US California-based pharmaceutical company is also providing Remdesivir on an individual compassionate use basis for children and pregnant women. More than 1,700 patients have now been treated through these programs, according to Daniel O'Day. "Remdesivir is still an investigational medicine and has not been approved by regulatory authorities anywhere in the world. The safety and efficacy are not yet known," he added.

Multiple clinical trials for Remdesivir are underway, involving thousands of patients with COVID-19 across the world including in China, where a total of 761 patients have been enrolled in the trials at the early stage of COVID-19 outbreak.

Daniel O'Day confirmed that the existing supply amounts to 1.5 million individual doses, which equates to over 140,000 treatment courses for patients and Gilead is providing the entirety of this existing supply at no cost.

"We are building a geographically diverse consortium of pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturers to expand global capacity for raw materials and production. This collaboration will allow us to achieve far more than any of us could have done working alone. The international nature of the supply chain for Remdesivir reminds us that it is essential for countries to work together to create enough supply for the world," Daniel O'Day said.