Coronavirus tracker: Gilead's remdesivir; White House's vaccine project; Pfizer, BioNTech's vaccine progress; AstraZeneca's pipeline

As headlines multiplied and analysts began sussing out Gilead Sciences' first controlled trial readout on remdesivir, NIAID director Anthony Fauci hailed the drug as real progress against the virus. Meanwhile, word emerged that the Trump administration is working up a Manhattan Project style vaccine initiative, bringing biotech, pharma and federal agencies together to speed up the work—and let the U.S. government take on the financial risks. Plus, Pfizer and BioNTech said they've dosed the first cohort in their COVID-19 vaccine trial, setting the shot well on its way to conducting full human trials in the coming months. And AstraZeneca is pooh-poohing the novel coronavirus' effect on clinical trials, saying its late-stage pipeline can weather any pandemic effects.  As of Wednesday, the number of global confirmed cases had passed 3.17 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker, and more than 224,000 people had died.