Gilead Sciences' remdesivir could get US emergency approval for coronavirus treatment

Gilead Sciences Inc’s (NASDAQ:GILD) antiviral candidate remdesivir is reportedly getting emergency-use authorisation by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The thumbs-up could come as soon as Wednesday, The New York Times reported. READ: Gilead Sciences posts positive data on coronavirus treatment trial “[The FDA] has been engaged in sustained and ongoing discussions with Gilead Sciences regarding making remdesivir available to patients as quickly as possible, as appropriate,” the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) said. The news comes after a mixed bag of announcements on the effects of the drug, which has not been approved anywhere yet and has not been demonstrated to be safe or effective in coronavirus cases. Gilead said on Wednesday that late-stage trials on hospitalised patients revealed that those receiving a ten-day course of remdesivir achieved similar improvement compared with those being treated for five days. However, a study on Chinese patients published in The Lancet on the same day showed that the drug was not bringing significant clinical benefits, though patients taking it were recovering faster than those on a placebo. That’s what the NIAID confirmed in a separate trial, also announced on Wednesday, although more details are yet to be published. Shares in Gilead advanced 3% to US$85.30 in premarket trading.