Study of Veklury (remdesivir) for COVID-19 shows the drug is chiefly helpful to patients on supplemental oxygen. Gilead Sciences

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has found that remdesivir - the Gilead Sciences drug authorized to treat COVID-19 - is chiefly helpful to those on supplemental oxygen, rather than patients who progress to requiring a ventilator or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. "The benefit was most apparent in patients ... requiring oxygen," the study says, though noting that's most likely due to the larger sample size in that category. "Confidence intervals for baseline ordinal scores of 4 (not receiving oxygen), 6 (receiving high-flow oxygen), and 7 (receiving ECMO or mechanical ventilation) are wide." The findings stress the need to identify COVID-19 cases and start antiviral treatment "before the pulmonary disease progresses to require mechanical ventilation." See- "Remdesivir for the Treatment of Covid-19 — Preliminary Report"- John H. Beigel, M.D., Kay M. Tomashek, M.D., M.P.H., Lori E. Dodd, Ph.D., Aneesh K. Mehta, M.D.,, et al., for the ACTT-1 Study Group Members-May 22, 2020 DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2007764.