MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA ¨C 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.¡±
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