Gilead Sciences has issued a voluntary recall of one lot of COVID-19 antiviral Veklury, also known as remdesivir, after confirming "the presence of a glass particle" in a vial.
A customer complaint prompted the company's investigation, according to the recall notice. The lot in question, 47035CFA, was distributed throughout the U.S. in July and has an expiration date in November 2025.
“The glass particulate can potentially travel, through the blood vessels, to various organs and block blood vessels in the heart, lungs or brain which can cause stroke and even lead to death,” the company warned in the recall notice.
Gilead hasn’t received any reports of adverse effects related to the recall, the company said.
The company issued a similar recall of two lots of Veklury back in December 2021, when Gilead confirmed the presence of glass particles in vials during an internal investigation that was sparked by customer complaints.
Veklury was at the forefront of COVID-19 treatments during the global pandemic, having received the first full FDA approval for use against the coronavirus. Although questions arose regarding its efficacy, the drug saw some growth in the second half of 2021 due to the spread of virus variants and elevated hospitalization rates at the time.