--- title: Chinese Drugmaker Mass-Producing Experimental COVID-19 Drug description: A Chinese drugmaker said it has started mass-producing an experimental drug from Gilead Sciences that has the potential to fight the novel coronavirus. canonical: https://time.com/5782633/covid-19-drug-remdesivir-china/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-02-12T05:35:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:03:49.598Z article:section: Health og:title: Chinese Drugmaker Starts Mass-Producing Experimental COVID-19 Drug og:description: The drug remdesivir, from Gilead, is a leading candidate to fight the coronavirus og:url: https://time.com/5782633/covid-19-drug-remdesivir-china/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt185a798441bb363a/698a0a2ddb298718b3264f0a/REMDESIVIR.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: CHINA-HUBEI-WUHAN-ANTIVIRAL DRUG-REMDESIVIR-CONFERENCE (CN) og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Chinese Drugmaker Starts Mass-Producing Experimental COVID-19 Drug twitter:description: The drug remdesivir, from Gilead, is a leading candidate to fight the coronavirus twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt185a798441bb363a/698a0a2ddb298718b3264f0a/REMDESIVIR.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A Chinese Drugmaker Has Started Mass-Producing an Experimental Drug for COVID-19 > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ## Video: Racing To Make A Coronavirus Vaccine [Watch (HLS stream): Racing To Make A Coronavirus Vaccine](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/DC80edSm.m3u8) (2:16)  _Published 2020-01-31. Scientists at Moderna Theraputics and the NIH are racing to create the world's first coronavirus vaccine in record time._ by [Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Bloomberg Contributor Feb 12, 2020 5:35 AM UTC  Wang Chen, first on the right, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and president of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, speaks at a conference in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, Feb. 5, 2020\. The registration for clinical trials on the antiviral drug remdesivir has been approved, and the first batch of pneumonia patients infected by the novel coronavirus are expected to start taking the drug on Thursday, according to an official conference Wednesday. Wang Chen, first on the right, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and president of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, speaks at a conference in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, Feb. 5, 2020\. The registration for clinical trials on the antiviral drug remdesivir has been approved, and the first batch of pneumonia patients infected by the novel coronavirus are expected to start taking the drug on Thursday, according to an official conference Wednesday. Cheng Min–Xinhua/ Getty Images by [Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Bloomberg Contributor Feb 12, 2020 5:35 AM UTC A Chinese drugmaker said it has started mass-producing an experimental drug from Gilead Sciences that has the potential to fight the novel coronavirus, as China accelerates its effort to find a treatment for the widening outbreak. Suzhou-based BrightGene Bio-Medical Technology said in a statement filed to the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Tuesday night that it has developed the technology to synthesize the active pharmaceutical ingredients of remdesivir, Gilead’s drug that is a leading candidate to treat the highly-infectious virus that’s killed more than 1,000 people. The drug isn’t licensed or approved anywhere in the world yet. Its stock surged 20% in Tuesday morning trading in Shanghai. While BrightGene said that it intends to license the drug from Gilead, its move to start manufacturing at this early stage is highly unusual and a potential infringement of the American company’s intellectual property. It comes a week after Chinese researchers filed an application to patent the drug to treat the new coronavirus, a bid that would give China sway over the global use of the therapy to fight the outbreak. Large areas of China have been paralyzed by the coronavirus epidemic, and Gilead’s drug is seen as a potential breakthrough after it showed signs of working on infected patients in the U.S. Chinese researchers are now testing the drug on 761 patients in clinical trials in Wuhan. BrightGene said it will have to license the patent from Gilead, conduct clinical trials and procure regulatory approvals before it can sell the drug on the market. The technology it developed to make remdesivir may not be of much value if the drug fails to produce ideal results from the ongoing clinical trials, or if the epidemic comes under control soon, it said. _Sign up for our daily coronavirus newsletter by clicking_ [_on this link_](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/coronavirus?source=article)_, and please send any tips, leads, and stories to_ [_virus@time.com_](mailto:virus@time.com)_._ Gilead did not immediately respond to a request for comment on BrightGene’s announcement. Last week, the company said it invented remdesivir and has patented it in China, including filing patent applications for use on coronaviruses. The company also said that it is working with Chinese, U.S. and World Health Organization officials to rapidly determine whether the drug can be used to treat the virus. 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