Gilead Launches Two Phase III Trials of Remdesivir for COVID-19

Gilead Sciences, based in Foster City, California, announced it will launch two Phase III clinical trials of its investigational antiviral drug remdesivir in adults diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. The outbreak began in China in December and has since spread through much of the rest of the world, with most cases concentrated in Asia. The current number of confirmed cases worldwide is greater than 81,400 with a total death count of 2,770. The first cases of community spread of the virus—meaning not by someone who visited Asia recently—in the U.S. was reported yesterday.