Vietnam to approve remdesivir for Covid treatment

By Le Nga   August 3, 2021 | 02:30 am PT
Vietnam to approve remdesivir for Covid treatment
An ampule of Gilead Sciences Covid-19 antiviral remdesivir is pictured during a news conference at the University Hospital Eppendorf (UKE) in Hamburg, Germany, April 8, 2020. Photo by Reuters/Ulrich Perrey.
Vietnam is considering approval for the use of antiviral drug remdesivir for Covid-19 treatment, the Health Ministry said Tuesday.

Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Truong Son said the ministry was considering adding remdesivir to Covid-19 treatment plans, saying the drug has already been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and many countries. Vietnam has also been using remdesivir to treat its Covid-19 patients in certain medical facilities, he added.

Whether to use the drug for a patient or not will depend on doctors at medical facilities, so people should not buy it for home use, Son stressed.

Vingroup has offered to donate 500,000 bottles of remdesivir to the health ministry this month.

Vu Tuan Cuong, head of the Drug Administration of Vietnam, said Monday that research is being done on introducing the drug into treatment plans to reduce Covid-19 death rates.

Remdesivir is an antiviral developed by U.S. biopharmaceutical firm Gilead Sciences. It has been approved for Covid-19 treatments in around 50 countries and territories like the U.S., Australia, Japan and India. It is administered through injections into the veins.

More than three months into the new wave, Vietnam has recorded 161,431 community infections in 62 of its 63 cities and provinces, HCMC being the epicenter with 100,557 cases.

The nationwide Covid-19 death toll stands at 1,881 with HCMC, all but 35 of these occurring under the new wave.

The country has administered more than 6.95 million Covid-19 vaccine doses, fully vaccinating 712,864 people with two shots.

 
 
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