Gilead Sciences’ vice president and general manager for Italy, Valentino Confalone, outlines the company’s tumultuous pandemic journey in one of the first global epicentres; the role that Italy played in the early studies of remdesivir as a treatment against severe COVID-19 disease; how Gilead is working to eliminate viral Hepatitis by 2030; and the potential of its HIV pipeline. In addition, Confalone dives into the past, present and future of oncology and CAR-T in Italy.
In some ways, the case of remdesivir resembles what happened with sofosbuvir, where initial concerns were raised about the price tag but history proved that the product was not only incredibly valuable, but also correctly priced since it saved health systems millions by helping to prevent Hepatitis C patients from progressing to liver failure
