State of Texas sending more cases of remdesivir to El Paso hospitals to treat virus patients

AUSTIN, Texas — Gov. Greg Abbott announced Tuesday afternoon that the Texas Department of State Health Services is distributing 15 additional cases of the antiviral drug remdesivir among seven El Paso hospitals to treat coronavirus patients.

The total number of cases being distributed to Texas hospitals will now be up to 484. Last week, DSHS had delivered 12 cases to El Paso.

As ABC-7 has previously reported, each case contains 40 vials of the drug. Depending on a patient's condition, they may require more or less doses of the drug. The Food and Drug Administration's emergency use authorization allows both a 10-day course of treatment for patients on ventilators and a 5-day course for those not on ventilators.

The governor noted that remdesivir has shown promise in early trials in speeding up recovery time among hospitalized Covid-19 patients. Medical experts have cautioned that beyond the initial optimism, however, remdesivir is far from a virus cure.

“There is a use for it that will be appropriate for some patients, but others will not benefit so much," Dr. Armando Meza, chief of infectious diseases at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center recently told ABC-7. "This is not a cure at all, but there will be a maximum benefit to those who need it.”

Gilead Sciences, which produces remdesivir, has been working to boost its production as hospitals across the nation seek to get more of the drug for their patients.

“I am grateful to our partners at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for providing these cases of remdesivir to communities across the state of Texas," Abbott said in a statement on Tuesday. "Texas will continue to act swiftly to provide for our hospitals, secure treatment for patients, and slow the spread of Covid-19."