Remdesivir is a drug owned by the US pharmaceutical company Gilead, originally designed to combat Ebola. It’s an antiviral, and works not by killing the virus directly, but by inhibiting its development and replication. While remdesivir stands out as a particularly promising treatment among other potential therapies for COVID-19, its actual level of efficacy is still being determined. When speculating on possible treatments for President Trump with reporters from STAT, several clinicians noted that remdesivir would be a likely and reasonable choice if the president displayed symptoms. The National Institute of Health currently recommends that remdesivir only be administered to patients sick enough to require supplemental oxygen, which the White House has said isn’t the case for the commander-in-chief.
