Skip to main content

FDA authorizes experimental drug remdesivir as coronavirus treatment

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted emergency use authorization (EAU) of remdesivir as a treatment for coronavirus on Friday, citing promising test results.

“The data shows that remdesivir has a clear-cut, significant, positive effect in diminishing the time to recovery,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Friday. The EAU is not the same as approval, which requires more testing and peer review.

Recommended Videos
Coronavirus is wreaking havoc on the world, and will continue to for months to come — but what exactly are we doing to fight it? Have we made any progress on a vaccine? Here’s what you need to know
coronavirus taiwan asia technology success science researcher getty

Remdesivir was developed by pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences in 2013. The antiviral drug was originally designed to fight the Ebola virus. In the rush to develop new treatments for COVID-19, researchers turned to remdesivir, as it was previously shown as a promising drug for MERS and SARS. “It is currently the most promising antiviral drug in development for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19,” Dr. Melissa Maginnis, a research scientist from the University of Maine who specializes in molecular virology and viral pathogenesis, recently told Digital Trends.

Remdesivir vial
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved remdesivir as a treatment for coronavirus on Friday. (Photo by Ulrich Perrey/Pool/AFP via Getty Images) Ulrich Perrey / Getty

An antiviral drug, remdesivir prevents the SARS-CoV-2 virus from making copies of itself. Remdesivir is a nucleotide analog that mimics adenosine, a building block of RNA and DNA. When the virus infects a cell and starts copying itself, remdesivir takes the place of adenosine, interfering with the process.

Early study results released Wednesday showed promising results in treating patients with remdesivir versus a placebo. They had faster recovery rates, an average of 11 days versus 15. The difference in death rates were not statistically significant, according to The Washington Post.

The study only included 1,063 patients, so it remains to be seen how it will affect a wider range of individuals.

Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated remdesivir’s FDA status. The agency has authorized it for use as a COVID-19 treatment.

Jenny McGrath
Former Senior Writer, Home
Jenny McGrath is a senior writer at Digital Trends covering the intersection of tech and the arts and the environment. Before…
Google just gave vision to AI, but it’s still not available for everyone
Gemini Live App on the Galaxy S25 Ultra broadcast to a TV showing the Gemini app with the camera feature open

Google has just officially announced the roll out of a powerful Gemini AI feature that means the intelligence can now see.

This started in March as Google began to show off Gemini Live, but it's now become more widely available.

Read more
This modular Pebble and Apple Watch underdog just smashed funding goals
UNA Watch

Both the Pebble Watch and Apple Watch are due some fierce competition as a new modular brand, UNA, is gaining some serous backing and excitement.

The UNA Watch is the creation of a Scottish company that wants to give everyone modular control of smartwatch upgrades and repairs.

Read more
Tesla, Warner Bros. dodge some claims in ‘Blade Runner 2049’ lawsuit, copyright battle continues
Tesla Cybercab at night

Tesla and Warner Bros. scored a partial legal victory as a federal judge dismissed several claims in a lawsuit filed by Alcon Entertainment, a production company behind the 2017 sci-fi movie Blade Runner 2049, Reuters reports.
The lawsuit accused the two companies of using imagery from the film to promote Tesla’s autonomous Cybercab vehicle at an event hosted by Tesla CEO Elon Musk at Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) Studios in Hollywood in October of last year.
U.S. District Judge George Wu indicated he was inclined to dismiss Alcon’s allegations that Tesla and Warner Bros. violated trademark law, according to Reuters. Specifically, the judge said Musk only referenced the original Blade Runner movie at the event, and noted that Tesla and Alcon are not competitors.
"Tesla and Musk are looking to sell cars," Reuters quoted Wu as saying. "Plaintiff is plainly not in that line of business."
Wu also dismissed most of Alcon's claims against Warner Bros., the distributor of the Blade Runner franchise.
However, the judge allowed Alcon to continue its copyright infringement claims against Tesla for its alleged use of AI-generated images mimicking scenes from Blade Runner 2049 without permission.
Alcan says that just hours before the Cybercab event, it had turned down a request from Tesla and WBD to use “an icononic still image” from the movie.
In the lawsuit, Alcon explained its decision by saying that “any prudent brand considering any Tesla partnership has to take Musk’s massively amplified, highly politicized, capricious and arbitrary behavior, which sometimes veers into hate speech, into account.”
Alcon further said it did not want Blade Runner 2049 “to be affiliated with Musk, Tesla, or any Musk company, for all of these reasons.”
But according to Alcon, Tesla went ahead with feeding images from Blade Runner 2049 into an AI image generator to yield a still image that appeared on screen for 10 seconds during the Cybercab event. With the image featured in the background, Musk directly referenced Blade Runner.
Alcon also said that Musk’s reference to Blade Runner 2049 was not a coincidence as the movie features a “strikingly designed, artificially intelligent, fully autonomous car.”

Read more