By Francesco Guarascio
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union's executive said on Wednesday it had agreed to buy a limited supply of the COVID-19 medicine remdesivir from U.S. drugmaker Gilead (O:GILD) to address the short-term needs of European patients, and hoped to be able to order more later.
The anti-viral is the only drug so far authorised in the EU to treat patients with severe symptoms of COVID-19, but nearly all available supplies have already been bought by the United States.
The EU Commission has agreed to pay 63 million euros (57.06 million pounds) to buy enough doses to treat about 30,000 patients, it said in a statement.
The United States signed a deal with Gilead in June for more than 500,000 courses of treatment, which accounts for most of the company's output through September..
The Commission said this batch would address "just immediate needs", and that it was already working to secure new doses from October.
Gilead appears to be selling the drug to Europe for 2,100 euros per patient, or $2,467, based on Reuters' calculations.
That would be slightly more than the $2,340 price set by Gilead for wealthier nations at the end of June, although exact terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
Most European countries have passed the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic but a new wave of infections in recent days has pushed countries to reintroduce restrictions.
While the number of hospitalisations is on the rise in Europe, they remain far below the height of the outbreak in March and April, when many hospitals were overwhelmed.