Trump, Fauci see hope with Gilead's drug

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday greeted as good news reports that a Gilead Sciences Inc experimental antiviral drug might help fight the coronavirus, and infectious disease official Anthony Fauci said data shows it appears to help patients hospitalized with COVID-19.

Fauci, though, told reporters during a White House meeting with Trump that the data on the drug, remdesivir, needs to be further analyzed.

Gilead on Wednesday said remdesivir helped improve outcomes for patients with COVID-19 in a clinical trial, and provided data suggesting it worked better when given earlier in the course of illness caused by the virus.

The closely watched drug has moved markets in the past few weeks following release of partial information on several studies that painted a mixed picture of its effectiveness.

Fauci told reporters the data shows the drug had benefit in reducing the time to recover from the virus.

While the data still must be peer-reviewed, he said it is opening the door to the possibility of a treatment.