Gilead's China Remdesivir Patents Confirmed, Generics Firms Cautioned

US Firm Gains Upper Hand Amid Patent Dispute

As the front-runner antiviral in the fight against the coronavirus gets increasingly positive attention in China, officials take action to keep the originator front and center and domestic copycats at bay.

Gilead. Maine. USA
GILEAD'S REMDESIVIR GETS CHINA PATENTS WHILE GENERICS ARE DISCOURAGED • Source: Shutterstock

In ongoing clinical studies for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which has now spread to 100 countries and infected over 100,000 people worldwide, Gilead Sciences Inc.’s promising antiviral remdesivir is finding itself at the center of a patent dispute in China.

Since the still investigational novel drug, originally developed for the Ebola virus, was found to show efficacy in the first infection case in the US, physicians and researchers in China in early February quickly put it into the clinic in Wuhan, the city at the epicenter of the outbreak

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