It’s not a miracle cure, but there is hope in the medical community that the antiviral drug remdesivir can help patients with COVID-19 recover faster. The drug is given intravenously to patients in the hospital over the course of five days. Dr. Anthony Fauci calls these findings “highly significant” saying, “The data shows that remdesivir has a clear-cut, significant, positive effect in diminishing the time to recovery.”

NPR writes that “The study was sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which Fauci leads and which is part of the National Institutes of Health.”

The analysis found that remdesivir shortened the time it took a hospitalized COVID-19 patient to recover, compared with a placebo. The study defined “recovery” as being well enough to be discharged from the hospital or returning to normal activity.

The preliminary results showed that patients who received remdesivir recovered 31% faster — the median time to recovery was 11 days rather than 15 days. The results also suggest a slightly lower mortality rate for the group receiving remdesivir, but until the complete data are analyzed, it’s not certain if that effect is significant.

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