Coronavirus Treatment Drug Remdesivir Will Be Available to "Most Urgent" Patients This Week

Gilead Sciences is ready to roll out new drug that treats COVID-19 in 11 days.

A newly created drug has been granted emergency approval to treat COVID-19, remdesivir. 

According to the CEO of Gilead Sciences, Daniel O’Day the drug will be sent to patients in need this week. In a recent news segment on CBS’s Face The Nation, O’Day shared, “We are now firmly focused on getting this medicine to the most urgent patients around the country here in the United States.”

He also added:

“We intend to get that to patients in the early part of this next week, beginning to work with the government which will determine which cities are most vulnerable and where the patients are that need this medicine.”

The Food and Drug Administration announced on Friday the drug “received an emergency use authorization as a treatment for COVID-19” following it showing promising results throughout a clinical trial, reports The Hill. The report noted that the trial found that hospitalized patients with COVID-19 who were given remdesivir recovered in 11 days. Patients who took the placebo recovered in 15 days.

As of Monday, May 4, more than 1,165,300 people in the United States have been infected with the coronavirus. The New York Times reports at least 67,700 have died. The U.S. has the highest numbers of cases in the world. New York, New Jersey and Illinois have the largest number of cases currently.   

At the moment, the drug is still being studied. But the approval means that it can be administered with a prescription, according to The Hill.