FDA to issue emergency authorization for Remdesivir, promising coronavirus drug

The FDA will announce Wednesday an emergency authorization for the use of Remdesivir, the Gilead Sciences drug that is showing promise in treating coronavirus, according to news reports.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, told a group of reporters at the White House on Wednesday that the federal trial showed that the drug could shorten recovery time from the novel virus by about a third. 

Still, Fauci cautioned that the results of the study, overseen by the NIAID, a division of the National Institutes of Health, must go through a peer review. 

The FDA's announcement could come as early as today. Dr. Fauci is the government's leading infectious disease specialist and a member of the White House coronavirus task force.