Texas sends drug remdesivir to Dallas-Fort Worth hospitals to treat COVID-19 patients
To treat patients with the novel coronavirus, Texas is shipping 1,200 vials of the experimental drug remdesivir to Texas hospitals, including in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
The Texas Department of State Health Services announced Tuesday that it received 30 cases of the antiviral drug from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The supply was donated by the drug’s manufacturer Gilead Sciences Inc., and is enough to treat approximately 120 patients, according to a news release.
There is no proven treatment for the novel coronavirus. Remdesivir is among the investigational drugs being studied for effectiveness in treating COVID-19 patients.
The state is shipping its supply to 15 hospitals in 14 communities. It is sending three cases to the John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth and four cases to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, according to the news release. Each case contains 40 vials of the drug, which is administered intravenously.
Chris Van Deusen, a spokesman for DSHS, wrote in an email Tuesday that the state plans to ship the cases out Tuesday to arrive Wednesday.
Catherine Bradley, a spokeswoman for the Parkland Health and Hospital System, wrote in an email Tuesday that the hospital was notified it would receive the shipment, and that it’s grateful to receive a portion of the donated drugs. Diana Brodeur, a spokeswoman for JPS, wrote in an email that the hospital did not request the shipment, but that it will be used to treat COVID-19 patients.
The federal government began distributing cases of the drug to states last week after it received a donation from the California-based manufacturer Gilead. The cpmpany has committed to supplying about 607,000 vials of the drug to the United States over the next six weeks, according to an HHS news release.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the emergency use of the drug on May 1 to treat children and adults hospitalized with severe cases of COVID-19. The authorization came days after the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases announced that preliminary data indicated patients who were treated with the drug recovered faster than those who received a placebo.
The median recovery time was 11 days for patients treated with remdesivir compared with 15 days for those who received a placebo, according to the NIH study. Preliminary results did not show a statistically significant decrease in the mortality rate for those who took the drug.
Meenakshi Ramanathan, an infectious diseases clinical pharmacist and assistant professor of pharmacotherapy at the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth, said the shipments are welcome news.
“Out of all of the treatments that are out there right now, remdesivir seems to be the most promising,” Ramanathan said. “Whatever we can have in our tool kit to attack the virus from different modalities can be very useful for COVID-19.”
DSHS said each hospital will determine how the drug will be used, but emphasized it must be prescribed in accordance with the FDA’s emergency use authorization. The agency consulted with the Texas Hospital Association, Texas Medical Association and the Rapid Assessment Subcommittee of the Texas Task Force on Infectious Disease Preparedness and Response to determine distribution criteria, according to the news release.
“Additionally, some hospitals in Texas are able to receive remdesivir through clinical trials or the manufacturer’s expanded access program. Where that’s the case, the state supply is being directed to other facilities in the area,” the news release read.
Diana Fite, the Texas Medical Association’s president, said that Texas received a limited supply of the drug initially, because the state has fewer COVID-19 cases than others. With this first shipment, the goal was to ensure the drug would be available throughout the state, Fite said.
“Going through all the possible ways of distributing things, it was decided upon that a wide geographic distribution would be the most fair way to do it — not just put it in a few of the large cities,” Fite said, noting that criteria would be reevaluated if more cases of the drug are sent to Texas.
Ramanathan said she would like to see hospitals who are treating larger numbers of COVID-19 patients be prioritized for greater access to the drug.
Stephen Love, the president and CEO of the DFW Hospital Council, said that while he’s thankful North Texas hospitals will receiving vials of the drug, he hopes the state will request more.
“We’re certainly glad to see the shipments that’s coming to North Texas. What we’re disappointed in is only 1,200 vials of the drug was sent from HHS to the entire state of Texas,” Love said, noting that it will be enough to treat only about 120 patients. “We don’t want to get more than we deserve, but we certainly want to get our fair share.”
DSHS Commissioner John Hellerstedt wrote in a letter Tuesday to Robert Kadlec, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ assistant secretary for preparedness and response, that the state appreciates the federal government’s quick delivery and hopes future shipments are in line with Texas’ population, which is second only to California in the U.S.
“We understand that there are only limited quantities of this therapeutic and will maximize its use to treat hospitalized patients in Texas that have severe disease,” Hellerstedt wrote.
“We hope to continue to receiving additional product, ensuring that it is available to treat more Texans. While Texas is fortunate to have more limited spread among its residents, we request consideration of overall population size in future distributions,” Hellerstedt went on to write.
Carrie Williams, a spokeswoman for the Texas Hospital Association, wrote in an email Tuesday that to inform future allocations of the drug, the federal government has begun requiring weekly reports from hospitals.
“We are pleased that more is coming because the amounts distributed so far are not sufficient,” Williams wrote.
The state’s shipment of the drug comes roughly six weeks after it first began shipping donated bottles of the drug hydroxychloroquine to dozens of Texas hospitals that requested it.
The anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine is more commonly used to treat people with rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, and although clinical trials are underway, its effectiveness in treating COVID-19 is unclear. The FDA has warned against using the therapy outside of hospitals or clinical trials because of potential heart problems.
This story was originally published May 12, 2020 at 4:32 PM.
