European countries face shortages of COVID-19 drug remdesivir

FILE PHOTO: A lab technicians shows the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) treatment drug "Remdesivir" at Eva Pharma Facility in Cairo, Egypt June 25, 2020. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

AMSTERDAM/WARSAW/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European countries are facing shortages of COVID-19 drug remdesivir because limited supplies are running out, officials said, with cases surging and the United States having bought up most of drugmaker Gilead's output.

In July, the 27 European Union countries and Britain, with a combined population of 500 million, secured doses to treat about 30,000 patients. The United States signed a deal for more than 500,000 courses of treatment, accounting for most of Gilead's output through September.