San Antonio pols push for more Remdesivir from the feds

SAN ANTONIO (KTSA News) — The City of San Antonio and Bexar County asked the federal government today to resume distribution of an antiviral COVID-19 drug shown to be effective in lowering the risk of hospitalization.

The letter submitted to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra says that since the antiviral drug Remdesivir, also known as Veklury, was approved by the FDA in October it is no longer being distributed free of charge by the federal government.

The city and county are asking for HHS to resume providing help in distributing and managing the drug to the Regional Infusion Centers in Texas, including the center in San Antonio run by BCFS Health and Human Services.

The letter cites a study published in December in the New England Journal of Medicine that states that early doses of Remdesivir given to COVID-19 patients daily for three days resulted in an 87% lower risk of hospitalization or death.

Officials said effective monoclonal antibody treatments and therapeutic agents such as Sotrovimab and Oral anti-virals monulpiravir and Paxlovid.

The letter says other widely available monoclonal antibody treatments from Regeneron and Lilly “lack significant activity against the now predominant Omicron variant.”

“Remdesivir offers the potential to offset this current shortage of other treatment agents during this time of surging infection rates in the United States due to the omicron variant,” the letter says. “While 62% of people in the US are fully vaccinated, only 20% of eligible persons have gotten boosters. Vaccination with a booster protects against death and severe illness, but breakthrough omicron infections are increasingly common.”