Early coronavirus drug trials show cautiously promising results

A medical trial found more than three dozen coronavirus patients improved after receiving an antiviral drug but it needs more study before its results can be properly assessed, medical officials say  

The trial, which administered a drug from biotechnology firm Gilead Sciences to 53 coronavirus-positive patients, saw nearly 70 percent of them recover to some degree after receiving the medicine. Several others worsened. The medication, called remdesivir, was administered for upwards of 10 days via an intravenous line. 

"[C]linical improvement was observed in 36 of 53 patients," the studies authors wrote in a paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Just under half of the patients were discharged following an 18-day observation cycle. 

Yet the doctors cautioned that more research is needed to adequately determine how effective the drugs are at treating the disease. 

"Interpretation of the results of this study is limited by the small size of the cohort, the relatively short duration of follow-up, potential missing data owing to the nature of the program, the lack of information on 8 of the patients initially treated, and the lack of a randomized control group," the authors wrote. 

They said that "ongoing randomized, placebo-controlled trials" of the drug will offer further evidence of its efficacy in fighting coronavirus infections.