Gilead's Remdesivir Retains Antiviral Activity Against Several COVID-19 Variants, Including Omicron

Gilead Sciences Inc's GILD Veklury (remdesivir) has demonstrated in vitro activity against ten SARS-CoV-2 variants, including omicron. 

• The study results showed similar activity of Veklury against the variants, and an early ancestral A lineage isolate detected in Seattle, WA (WA1 strain). 
• Specifically, delta and omicron variants both remained fully susceptible to Veklury. These laboratory results demonstrate that Veklury has remained active against all major variants isolated over the past two years.
• Related: FDA Approves Gilead's Remdesivir For Non-Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients At High Risk For Disease Progression.
• The study analyzed nearly 6 million publicly available variant isolate sequences and confirmed that the nsp12 protein, the RNA polymerase target of Veklury, is highly conserved across all variants. 
• Further characterization confirmed that none of the few identified nsp12 mutations prevalent in some of the SARS-CoV-2 variants affects the virus susceptibility to Veklury.
• Price Action: GILD shares are up 0.75% at $62.26 during the market session on the last check Friday.
• Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay