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- Gilead Sciences just received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for its antiviral remdesivir drug for COVID-19 patients.
- Remdesivir is the only FDA-approved antiviral drug to treat COVID-19 patients.
- Gilead has said remdesivir helped hospitalized patients with more moderate forms of COVID-19 recover more quickly when they received the treatment intravenously for 5 days.
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The Food and Drug Administration approved Gilead Sciences’ antiviral remdesivir drug to treat coronavirus patients, the company said. The FDA had granted emergency use of the drug back in May.
Remdesivir is the only antiviral drug approved to treat COVID-19 patients.
Gilead has said remdesivir helped hospitalized patients with more moderate forms of COVID-19 recover more quickly when receiving the treatment intravenously for 5 days. President Donald Trump received the drug after testing positive for the coronavirus.
A study from The World Health Organization found remdesivir did not stop patients from dying or shorten hospital stays in 2,750 COVID-19 patients. Another recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that patients on a 10-day course of remdesivir didn’t improve more than patients who didn’t get the drug.
This is a developing story.