Wed | Jul 22, 2026

FDA allows emergency use of drug for coronavirus

Published:Friday | May 1, 2020 | 3:45 PM
In this March 2020 photo provided by Gilead Sciences, rubber stoppers are placed onto filled vials of the investigational drug remdesivir at a Gilead manufacturing site in the United States. (Gilead Sciences via AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — United States regulators on Friday allowed emergency use of an experimental drug that appears to help some coronavirus patients recover faster.

It is the first drug shown to help fight COVID-19, which has killed more than 230,000 people worldwide.

President Donald Trump announced the news at the White House alongside Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn, who said the drug would be available for patients hospitalised with COVID-19.

The FDA acted after preliminary results from a government-sponsored study showed that Gilead Sciences’s remdesivir shortened the time to recovery by 31%, or about four days on average, for hospitalised COVID-19 patients.

The study of 1,063 patients is the largest and most strict test of the drug and included a comparison group that received just usual care so remdesivir’s effects could be rigorously evaluated.

Those given the drug were able to leave the hospital in 11 days on average versus 15 days for the comparison group.

The drug also might be reducing deaths, although that’s not certain from the partial results revealed so far.

The National Institutes of Health’s Dr Anthony Fauci said the drug would become a new standard of care for severely ill COVID-19 patients like those in this study.

The drug has not been tested on people with milder illness, and currently is given through an IV in a hospital.

The FDA authorised the drug under its emergency powers to quickly speed experimental drugs, tests and other medical products to patients during public health crises.

In normal times, the FDA requires “substantial evidence” of a drug’s safety and effectiveness, usually through one or more large, rigorously controlled patient studies.

But during public health emergencies the agency can waive those standards, simply requiring that an experimental drug’s potential benefits outweigh its risks.

Gilead has said it would donate its currently available stock of the drug and is ramping up production to make more.

Follow The Gleaner on Twitter and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.