Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2020-05-18)

38

Emergencyapprovaloftheantiviraldrug

remdesiviristhefirstgoodnewsofthis

pandemic.GileadScienceswasready

ByRobertLangreth

PhotographsbyBrianGuido

LASTNEWYEAR’SEVE,TOMASCIHLAR,VICEPRESIDENT

fordiscoveryvirologyatGileadSciencesInc.,receiveda dis-

turbingemailfroma topinfectiousdiseasesexpertatthe

UniversityofVirginia.Theresearcherhadbeenworkingwith

Cihlarona plantotesttheGileaddrugremdesivirasa treat-

mentforMiddleEastrespiratorysyndrome,a deadlydisease

causedbya coronavirus.MERShadbeenflaringupfromtime

totimeinSaudiArabiaandelsewheresince2012,butthisemail

wasaboutsomethingmoreominous.Therewerecasesofpneu-

moniasuddenlyemerginginWuhan,China.Watchthisone,

thevirologistwarned.It mightbea newcoronavirus.

Remdesivirwasoneofthefewexperimentalmedicinesthat

hadshownpromiseinlabstudiesagainsta widevarietyof

coronaviruses.Liketherestoftheworld,Gileadknewnextto

nothingaboutthisnewone.TheWorldHealthOrganization

hadn’tyetconfirmedtherewassustainedhuman-to-human

spread,andtheextentoftheoutbreakinWuhanwouldn’t

becomeclearforweeks.Nobodyknewatthatpointwhether

it wouldbecomea pandemic,butGileadstartedplanning

ontheassumptionit could.Withinweeks,ChiefExecutive

OfficerDanielO’Dayformeda taskforcetostudyhowtotest

remdesivirand,if it worked,mass-produceit.

Evenbytheexactingstandardsofpharmaceuticals,rem-

desiviris trickytoproduce—themonthslongprocessinvolves

70 rawmaterials,reagents,andcatalysts.Theresultingactive

pharmaceuticalingredient,orAPI,is a whitepowder,1.1grams

ofwhichconstitutesa single10-daycourseoftreatment.

Remdesiviris administeredintravenously,whichintroduces

additionalcomplexityintothemanufacturing:Thepowder

mustbedissolvedintoa solutionandthenplacedintoglass

vialsundersterileconditions.

BloombergBusinessweek May 18, 2020

→A quality-control

technician at Gilead’s

California filling plant