Malaysia may have to resort to “other means” to purchase Remdesivir should the experimental antiviral drug prove effective against Covid-19.
The country does not qualify for subsidised versions of the drug, which is produced and patented by American pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences Inc.
When asked about this today, Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the ministry could consider other ways to access the drug but did not elaborate on what these ways were.
“We have access to the treatment at the moment (under the clinical trials) but the question is if this drug is really effective, perhaps we have to look into other means to access this drug.
“Not the voluntary license, but other means,” said Noor Hisham during his daily press briefing this afternoon.
Malaysia is among the countries included in the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Solidarity Trial - where it compares four treatment options and assesses their effectiveness against the Covid-19.
Noor Hisham (above) shared today that 93 patients in Malaysia have been enrolled in the programme, of which 12 have been given Remdesivir.
The other three treatment options are Lopinavir/Ritonavir, Lopinavir/Ritonavir with Interferon beta-1a and either chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine.
This week, Gilead announced that it was working with five companies in India and Pakistan to manufacture and distribute generic and cheaper versions of Remdesivir to 127 countries.
Malaysia, which is classified as an upper-middle-income country by the World Bank, was not on the list.
Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii has since urged the ministry to request Gilead review this decision as he said Malaysia could not afford to pay as much for healthcare as Singapore or South Korea.
The Opposition politician said this was due to high-income inequality on the ground.
Former deputy health minister Dr Lee Boon Chye (above) was quoted in healthcare news website CodeBlue as suggesting that Malaysia use a compulsory license to obtain generic versions of Remdesivir.
Opposition MP Charles Santiago further proposed that Asean countries form a bloc to negotiate with Gilead for a subsidised price for the drug for all member nations.
A voluntary license for a drug means the permission is given by the patent holder to a generic company to produce a patented drug as if it were generic.
A compulsory license, meanwhile, is when a government allows the production of patented products without the consent of the patent owner or plans to use the patent-protected invention itself.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic, Chile, Israel, Ecuador have issued compulsory licenses for all virus treatments. - Mkini
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