The decision will not have dragged on. The United States Medicines Agency (FDA) has granted authorization to use the antiviral remdesivir, which shortens the recovery time for patients with Covid-19, President of the United States Donald Trump announced on Friday.

"I am pleased to report that Gilead has obtained emergency use clearance from the FDA for remdesivir," Trump said from the White House.

>> Read: "Covid-19: remdesivir, an antiviral treatment called desire?"

Remdesivir is the first drug to prove its effectiveness against the new coronavirus. According to a study by the US Institutes of Health, it shortens the recovery time for patients with Covid-19 by several days.

Not a miracle cure

The results of this study, carried out on more than a thousand people, were announced Wednesday, with the conclusion that hospitalized patients with the new coronavirus and in respiratory distress recovered faster than those receiving a placebo.

More specifically, patients treated with remdesivir recovered 31% faster on average than others.

"Although the results were clearly positive from the point of view of their statistical sense, they were modest," nuanced Thursday on NBC the director of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Anthony Fauci, who advises the White House in this context of crisis.

Clearly, even if the drug works, it is not a miracle cure.

Distribution coordination will be federal

In a meeting Friday with Gilead general manager Daniel O'Day in the Oval office of the White House, Donald Trump presented the green light as an important first step and added that the private laboratory had donated a million doses of remdesivir.

Gilead said the FDA clearance was for five and ten day treatments, while acknowledging that the optimal duration of treatment continues to be the subject of clinical trials.

Federal authorities will coordinate the distribution of remdesivir to hospitals in cities hardest hit by the epidemic, Gilead added.

With AFP and Reuters

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