Covid-19 roundup: In fifth open let­ter, Daniel O’Day touts in­halant remde­sivir, promis­es 2M dos­es by year's end; Mer­ck’s an­tivi­ral moves in­to PhII

Since remde­sivir be­gan cap­tur­ing treat­ment hopes ear­ly in the out­break, one clear fac­tor has lim­it­ed its po­ten­tial: An­tivi­rals are known to work best in the first days af­ter some­one is in­fect­ed, but remde­sivir is an IV in­fu­sion. It was on­ly giv­en af­ter pa­tients are hos­pi­tal­ized — which could be days or even weeks af­ter ex­po­sure. So Gilead said they would start work­ing on an in­halant ver­sion of their now world-fa­mous drug.

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