Gilead Sciences Inc’s experimental coronavirus drug failed its first randomised clinical trial, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing draft documents published accidentally by the World Health Organization.
The Chinese trial showed the antiviral remdesivir did not improve patients' condition or reduce the pathogen's presence in the bloodstream. The drugmaker said the findings were inconclusive because the study was terminated early.
Remdesivir, which previously failed as a treatment for Ebola, is being tried against Covid-19 because it is designed to disable the mechanism by which certain viruses, including the new coronavirus, make copies of themselves and potentially overwhelm their host’s immune system.
