First Anti-COVID-19 Drug Approved In US

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved last Friday the emergency use of a new drug – remde-sivir – that appeared to have shortened the recovery time of COVID-19 patients from 15 to 11 days on average.

The study is ongoing and not yet large enough and the scientists are not ready to say the drug is a cure. Remdesivir works by blocking an enzyme that the virus uses to copy its genetic material. “I don’t think this is a cure yet, but I think it is starting to point us in the right direction,” said a critical care specialist in New York’s North Shore University Hospital where the drug was tested.

The FDA authorized the drug under its emergency powers, to speed up the availability of other experimental drugs now being developed and tested in the US, which is now the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. The virus has now infected over 3.4 million people all over the world, over 235,000 fatally, with the US accounting for over 1.1 million cases and over 65,000 deaths.