First copies of Gilead coronavirus drug to start selling in Bangladesh

Bangladesh’s Beximco Pharmaceuticals has become the world’s first company to start selling the generic version of Gilead Sciences’ antiviral drug on mounting urgency to treat the infection caused by the coronavirus.

The Dhaka-based Beximco, which counts Norges Bank as one of its investors, will sell remdesivir for about 6,000 taka ($71) a vial to private clinics but will give it free to state-run hospitals treating Covid-19 patients, Rabbur Reza, chief operating officer at the company, said in an interview.

AstraZeneca gets order of $1 bn from US

Drug maker AstraZeneca said on Thursday it had secured its first agreements for 400 million doses of a Covid-19 vaccine it is testing, bolstered by an investment from the US vaccine agency.

The Anglo-Swedish firm had received more than $1 billion from the US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority for the development, production and delivery of the vaccine. AP/PTI