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In the coming weeks, the world will get a sense of whether Gilead Sciences’ remdesivir, an antiviral developed for Ebola, is useful against the novel coronavirus With the coronavirus pandemic spiraling—during the week of March 30, worldwide infections crossed 900,000 and deaths exceeded 45,000—initial results emerging from several late-stage studies will be under the microscope But infectious disease experts on the front lines warn that the data are unlikely to clearly answer the question of whether remdesivir works in COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus Those first tests are in the sickest, hardest-to-treat patients Moreover, antivirals don’t have a great track record at taking down coronaviruses, which can be a little more sophisticated than your average RNA virus Still, some industry watchers hope the studies signal enough success to convince the US Food and Drug Administration to approve Gilead’s experimental drug When a new infectious disease threatens
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