In that 397-patient trial, Gilead said 62% of patients treated early with remdesivir were discharged from the hospital, compared with 49% of patients who were treated later in the course of the infection.　

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, said partial results from its 1,063-patient trial show that hospitalized COVID-19 patients given remdesivir recovered in 11 days, compared to 15 days for patients given a placebo.　

The study showed a trend toward better survival for remdesivir - 8% of patients given the drug died compared with 11.6% in the placebo group - but the difference was not statistically significant so may not be due to Gilead’s drug.