April 29, 1010, drugs showed promise in treating COVID-19 patients A federal trial found that the Gilead Sciences antiviral drug remdesivir can speed the recovery of COVID-19 patients, and the Food and Drug Administration reportedly plans to issue an emergency approval to start using it, Trump administration officials said Wednesday. “This is very optimistic,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease.

Gilead Sciences said its own trial and another overseen by the infectious diseases institute showed the drug can cut recovery time.The drugmaker’s study found at least 50 percent of patients treated with remdesivir improved. The overall mortality rate of the study was 7 percent, and few patients developed bad side effects. A separate study concluded remdesivir was “safe and adequately tolerated” but “did not provide significant benefits over placebo.”