Gilead Sciences (NYSE: GILD) stock price bounced after the Chicago-based hospital treating severe coronavirus patients using Gilead Sciences’ antiviral medicine remdesivir said 123 out of 125 patients on the drug were discharged from hospital in less than a week. All these patients were treated with daily doses of Gilead’s remdesivir.
“The best news is that most of our patients have already been discharged, which is great. We’ve only had two patients perish,” said Kathleen Mullane, the University of Chicago infectious disease specialist.
Gilead Sciences jumped as high as 7% higher in Friday stock trading, extending the year to date rally to 26%. Day traders are making buy calls as Gilead’s stock price is likely to move significantly higher if further tests also go well.
President Donald Trump has previously applauded remdesivir’s potential to combat viral diseases. Trump said, “remdesivir seems to have a very good result.”
While Food and Drug Administration and other regulatory agencies have not yet approved any drug for the treatment of this virus, the world has been waiting for the full results of Gilead’s clinical trials.
Several other institutions are also testing remdesivir but no other data has been released as yet. “What we can say at this stage is that we look forward to data from ongoing studies becoming available,” Gilead said.
Gilead Sciences has started working with regulators to boost production of remdesivir as the current supply amounts to just 1.5 million doses, accounting for 140000 treatment courses. “As a result, we have reduced the end-to-end manufacturing timeline from approximately one year to around six months,” wrote chairman and chief executive officer Daniel O’Day wrote on the firm’s website.
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