Gilead touts ‘positive data’ on drug as coronavirus treatment

Gilead Sciences said Wednesday it is aware of “positive data” emerging from a clinical trial studying one of its drugs as a potential treatment for COVID-19. 

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’s study of remdesivir, an experimental antiviral, has reached its primary endpoint, Gilead said, meaning the drug was found to be effective in the trial. 

The institute, which is headed by Anthony Fauci, a key member of the White House’s coronavirus task force, is expected to release more information Wednesday, Gilead said. 

The study, which began in February, is evaluating the safety and efficacy of remdesivir in hospitalized adults with COVID-19. 

There is no proven COVID-19 treatment yet, though hundreds of clinical trials are ongoing all around the world to find one. Scientists have high hopes for remdesivir, which was originally developed as a potential treatment for Ebola, but was found to be ineffective. 

Scott Gottlieb, former Food and Drug Administration commissioner under President Trump, said on CNBC Wednesday he thinks the drug is probably not a “home run” treatment for COVID-19, but it could help people avoid worse outcomes. 

“It’s not going to be a cure, but it is going to be a drug potentially that if you use it particularly early in the course of a disease — you hang it in the emergency room when someone comes in with COVID, especially someone with risk factors that predict they’ll have a worse outcome from the disease —  it could reduce their chances of having a really bad outcome,” he said, adding that is the case with other antivirals used to treat the flu. 

Markets in the U.S. quickly rose on the news of the treatment.