23 Oct
The US Food and Drug Administration says it has approved the antiviral drug remdesivir as a treatment for COVID-19, based on data from multiple clinical trials. This is the first drug to be approved for the disease in the United States.
The FDA announced on Thursday that remdesivir had been approved for use in people aged 12 or older and weighing at least 40 kilograms for the treatment of COVID-19 requiring hospitalization.
Remdesivir was developed by a US drug maker to treat people infected with Ebola.
The FDA authorized the emergency use of the drug to treat coronavirus patients in May. Japan followed suit, granting fast-track approval for the drug.
A group led by researchers at the US National Institutes of Health and others conducted clinical trials, and reported that remdesivir can be expected to shorten the time of recovery from COVID-19.
The drug was administered to US President Donald Trump after he contracted the virus.
The World Health Organization said its clinical trial found that remdesivir appears to have little or no effect on the survival rate or length of hospital stay of COVID-19 patients.
NHK
