51 PA Hospitals Get Coronavirus Treatment Drug Remdesivir

HARRISBURG, PA — More than 50 Pennsylvania hospitals have received the first shipment of Remdesivir doses to treat patients with COVID-19, the state Department of Health announced Tuesday.

Remdesivir, an investigational antiviral medication, has received an "Emergency Use Authorization" from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to help those hospitalized during the coronavirus pandemic.

Pennsylvania, with nearly 58,000 cases of coronavirus, is among a handful of states to receive the medication from the federal government. Others include Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, and Michigan. The medication is given via IV once per day for up to 10 days and may help decrease the amount of coronavirus in your body, enabling a shorter recovery time, officials said.

The National Institutes of Health and manufacturer Gilead Sciences recently conducted a randomized controlled clinical trial of the investigational drug in hospitalized patients.

Preliminary results suggested the medication enabled a faster recovery, "although the data was not sufficient to determine if the drug was associated with lower mortality," the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a news release.

"We now have solid data showing that Remdesivir diminishes to a modest degree the time to recovery for people hospitalized with COVID-19," Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the government's top infectious disease expert, said in a statement.

The federal government delivered the first shipment of 1,200 doses of Remdesivir to Pennsylvania on Tuesday.

Federal health officials said Gilead has committed to supplying more than 600,000 vials of the experimental drug over the next six weeks to treat an estimated 78,000 patients.

The medication has been distributed to the following 51 Pennsylvania hospitals:

• Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
• Temple University Hospital
• Albert Einstein Medical Center
• Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest
• Abington Memorial Hospital
• Jefferson - Torresdale Hospital
• Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
• Main Line-Lankenau Hospital
• Presbyterian Med Center-Univ of Pa Hlth Sys
• Tower Health System-Reading Hospital
• St. Mary Medical Center
• Crozer-Chester Medical Center
• Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital
• St. Lukes Hospital-Bethlehem
• Main Line-Bryn Mawr Hospital
• Lancaster General Hospital
• Chestnut Hill Hospital
• Methodist Hospital
• Riddle Memorial Hospital
• Nazareth Hospital
• Pennsylvania Hospital
• Jeanes Hospital
• Einstein Medical Center-Montgomery Hospital
• Main Line-Paoli Memorial Hospital
• Lehigh Valley-Muhlenberg
• Jefferson - Frankford Hospital
• Holy Redeemer Hospital & Medical Center
• Doylestown Hospital
• Chester County Hospital
• St. Luke's Hospital Anderson Campus
• Taylor Hospital
• Albert Einstein at Elkins Park
• Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center
• Delaware County Memorial Hospital
• Geisinger Medical Center
• PSH-St. Joseph Medical Center
• Mercy Philadelphia Hospital
• UPMC-Presbyterian
• Chambersburg Hospital
• Phoenixville Hospital
• Geisinger Community Medical Center
• Geisinger-Holy Spirit Hospital
• Lansdale Hospital
• Regional Hospital of Scranton
• Lehigh Valley Hospital - Hazleton
• York Hospital
• UPMC Pinnacle Harrisburg
• Sacred Heart Hospital
• St. Lukes Hospital-Allentown
• Roxborough Memorial Hospital
• Wilkes-Barre General Hospital