Health services gain free access to critical COVID antiviral medication

Victorian health services have received COVID antiviral medicines free of charge ahead of the winter flu season when COVID cases are also expected to peak.

HealthShare Victoria (HSV) facilitated the allocation and distribution of the medicine earlier this month after the National Medical Stockpile (NMS) distributed its remaining stock of Remdesivir – a broad-spectrum antiviral medication administered via injection – to the states and territories.

The NMS is a strategic reserve of drugs, vaccines, antidotes and personal protective equipment managed by the Federal Government, for use in national health emergencies. It played an important role in the management of COVID medications during the pandemic, reducing the administrative burden on health services.

Victoria received 47,772 vials of the COVID antiviral medicine, worth $27.2 million, which HSV has allocated to 41 health services across the state.

Northern Health Director of Pharmacy Vinod Chellaram said HSV’s management of the stock allocation provided some relief as well as time to plan a future strategy.

“We have time to put together a well-designed plan – an opportunity that’s rare in healthcare,” he said.

“The transition to HSV went very smoothly with no impact on service levels.”

HSV Supply Chain Specialist Rob Luong said the medicine, which is sold under the brand name Veklury, was allocated on a pro rata basis determined by each health service’s usage in the last year.

“This was the most efficient and cost-effective way to manage the distribution in Victoria,” he said.

As well as managing the stock allocation, the Supply Chain Surety team was responsible for organising delivery of the products to health services, including to remote areas of regional Victoria.

“It was a challenging task involving delivery of a large amount of stock to hospitals. We’re very grateful to the health services who helped us deploy the stock effectively and without delays.”

Prior to this and throughout the pandemic, Alfred Health was responsible for managing and distributing the Covid antivirals to Victorian health services, as well as monitoring usage.

“Alfred Health was a big part of this project, which was very complex during the pandemic years. We are very grateful to them for the support they’ve provided,” Rob says.

Following the stock allocation by HSV, the medicine will no longer be held by the National Medical Stockpile as part of the emergency response.