Health Update: The use of experimental antiviral medication remdesivir to treat severe cases of COVID-19
Grays Harbor County Public Health & Social Services Department
Requested actions:
• Be aware that the drug remdesivir is being used to treat patients hospitalized with severe cases of COVID-19. The FDA, under a federally approved emergency use authorization, has approved remdesivir, an experimental antiviral medication.
• Be aware that Washington State Department of Health has received 800 vials of remdesivir from the federal government and is distributing these vials to 11 hospitals across Washington State, based on an allocation plan.
• Be aware that, at this time, Public Health does not foresee any hospital allocations for Grays Harbor County hospitals, but this may change in the future
BACKGROUND
· On May 2, 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration FDA issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to permit the emergency use of the unapproved product remdesivir for treatment of suspected or laboratory-confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in adults and children hospitalized with severe disease.
· The producer of remdesivir (Gilead) donated its drug to the federal government. The federal government, in turn, decided to distribute allotments of remdesivir to states for distribution.
· On May 11, 2020 after learning the federal government was sending 800 vials of remdesivir (treatment for approximately 100 patients) to Washington, the Department of Health (DOH) convened the Disaster Medical Advisory Committee, infectious disease experts, critical care experts, and community and equity leaders in Washington to provide advice to the Department of Health on two key policy questions:
1. How should remdesivir be distributed in Washington?
2. Which patients should be highest priority for receiving remdesivir?
· After receiving input from experts on the above two questions, DOH developed an allocation plan for this initial shipment of remdesivir.
DOH will allocate remdesivir to hospitals based on:
o Incidence of COVID-19 cases in the county during the past week
o Incidence of deaths in the county during the past weeks (didn’t have time to consider)
o Number of COVID-19 patients in the hospital
o Health inequities (i.e., prioritize communities experiencing disproportionate burden of disease)
o Access to remdesivir through a clinical trial or the Gilead Expanded Access Program (Hospitals who are currently participating or recently participated in a remdesivir trial or the Gilead Expanded Access Program will not receive any of the initial remdesivir shipment.)
· DOH expects to receive additional shipments in the future.
RESOURCES
· https://www.fda.gov/media/137566/download
· https://www.fda.gov/media/137565/download
Situation update
Grays Harbor County has 15 confirmed cases of COVID-19.
· March 2020: 2 cases
· April 2020: 10 cases
· May: 3 cases
Grays Harbor Public Health Incident Management Team (IMT) remains prepared to respond if any additional cases are identified.
Additional resources
· Our web page for healthcare providers: http://www.healthygh.org/directory/providers
· Our web page for COVID-19 guidance: http://www.healthygh.org/directory/covid19guidance
Our web page for general COVID-19 information: http://www.healthygh.org/directory/covid19