Gilead Withdraws Request for Special Orphan Status on Experimental Virus Treatment

[Donkees]

Critics said the company was profiteering from the coronavirus pandemic by seeking tax and monopoly benefits under a program intended to encourage drug development for rare diseases.

March 25, 2020

Excerpt:

Bowing to criticism that it was exploiting the coronavirus pandemic, the drugmaker Gilead said on Wednesday that it would no longer seek orphan-drug status for remdesivir, an experimental drug that is being tested as a possible treatment.

The Food and Drug Administration had only granted the special designation on Monday — which gives drug companies a seven-year monopoly on sales, tax credits and expedited approval. Gilead said it asked the agency to rescind the status.

The company’s decision to seek orphan status for the drug had drawn immediate criticism. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, called it “truly outrageous,” noting that Gilead had received “tens of millions” of dollars from the federal government to develop the drug.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/25/health/gilead-coronavirus-orphan-drug.html#click=https://t.co/MOr4T3jThu