Government’s ‘random’ move to nationalize coronavirus drug remdesivir could ‘choke off’ supplies: CNN

On CNN Friday, Dr. Amy Compton-Phillips, the chief clinical officer for the Providence Health System, raised alarms about the federal government's policy on remdesivir, currently the only drug that has been shown in well-designed clinical trials to give relief in serious COVID-19 cases.

"You have raised concerns about the Trump administration's distribution of this drug remdesivir," said anchor Wolf Blitzer. "Is the federal government giving health care providers adequate information about how potentially, potentially lifesaving treatment is being allocated?"

"Well, Wolf, you actually bring up a really important point," said Compton-Phillips. "Our organization has treated several hundred patients now with remdesivir as part of clinical trials. We actually have an article as we speak in The New England Journal of Medicine that we really do think remdesivir is, at the moment, one of our best hope medications for really changing the outcomes of patients with COVID."

"Just yesterday, the government decided to nationalize the supply of remdesivir," continued Compton-Phillips. "And without any transparent rules, without any guidelines, have choked off the supply so that it's going to be taken away from people who have been doing studies and using it under compassionate use and redistributed to — it's really unclear to whom. But it really does feel like a random act of redistribution instead of something done with a really planful way to get the medication where it's needed the most."

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