The first reported use of an experimental Gilead Sciences Inc. drug to fight the novel coronavirus has encouraged doctors to support further testing of the medication.
Gilead's remdesivir was given to the first U.S. case, a 35-year-old man who developed pneumonia after he tested positive for the 2019-nCoV virus and was hospitalized in an airborne-isolation unit at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett in Washington state for observation.
"To my knowledge, this is the first reported case in the world where this drug has been used in a human application against this virus," Jay Cook, chief medical officer at the center, told reporters on a conference call Friday. "At the time, we felt the benefits of using this drug outweighed whatever potential risk there might be and we obtained his informed consent."