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Opinion

Rush to approve remdesivir highlights public health failings

Politicians are seizing on anything which seems to help COVID-19 fight

| Japan
Filled vials of remdesivir at a Gilead Sciences facility in La Verne, California, pictured on Mar. 11: many small clinical trials have been carried out. (Handout photo from Gilead Sciences)   © Reuters

Andy Crump is a consultant at the Medical Governance Research Institute and a visiting professor at Kitasato University, Keio University and St Luke's International University in Tokyo.

The days when we could unquestioningly trust science and scientists are long gone. If anything, the rush to approve medicines without proper testing for the COVID-19 pandemic should give us even less faith in how our drug approval procedures and public health systems are run. Take the case of the antiviral drug remdesivir.

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