TIL Desk/World/Washington/ US regulators on Thursday approved the first drug to treat COVID-19: remdesivir, an antiviral medicine given through an IV for patients needing hospitalization. The drug, which California-based Gilead Sciences Inc. is calling Veklury, cut the time to recovery by five days — from 15 days to 10 on average — in a large study led by the US National Institutes of Health.
It had been authorized for use on an emergency basis since spring, and now becomes the first drug to win full Food and Drug Administration approval for treating COVID-19. President Donald Trump received it when he was sickened earlier this month.
Veklury is approved for people at least 12 years old and weighing at least 40 kilograms who need hospitalization for their coronavirus infection. For patients younger than 12, the FDA will still allow the drug’s use in certain cases under its previous emergency authorization.
The drug works by inhibiting a substance the virus uses to make copies of itself. Certain tests are required before starting patients on it. And the label warns against using it with the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, because that can curb its effectiveness.
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