Gilead Sues Over Counterfeit HIV Drugs + Menarini's New Rapid COVID-19 PCR Test – Xtalks Life Science Podcast Ep. 45

In this episode, Ayesha discussed Gilead Science’s lawsuit against a network of distributors selling counterfeits of the company’s best-selling HIV drugs Biktarvy and Descovy. The drugs were being sold in pharmacies across several states. Gilead said it had been working with the US marshals and local law enforcement and had so far seized more than 85,000 counterfeit drug bottles. The editorial team talked about the tremendous dangers of counterfeit drugs with respect to patient safety and that stricter measures, including better monitoring and tracking of drug documentation to uncover fakes as well as audits at pharmacies, should be implemented to quickly flag counterfeit products.

The editorial team also discussed Menarini Diagnostics’ new PCR-based COVID-19 test that can detect all the variants of SARS-CoV-2, including Omicron. It is a rapid test that can produce highly accurate results in about two hours. The CE-marked test is currently available in Europe. The team discussed the continued need for COVID-19 tests in the face of shortages of both PCR and rapid antigen tests due to the rapidly circulating Omicron variant.