Antiviral Remdesivir: US Approves First Drug to Treat Covid-19, Cuts Recovery Period by 5 Days
News 18U.S. regulators on Thursday approved the first drug to treat COVID-19: remdesivir, an antiviral medicine given through an IV for patients needing hospitalisation. The drug, which California-based Gilead Sciences Inc. is calling Veklury, cut the time to recovery by five days from 15 days to 10 on average in a large study led by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. It had been authorized for use on an emergency basis since spring, and now becomes the first drug to win full Food and Drug Administration approval for treating COVID-19. Last week, a large study led by the World Health Organization found the drug did not help hospitalized COVID-19 patients, but that study did not include a placebo group and was less rigorous than previous ones that found a benefit.