When Gilead Sciences, Inc.’s CEO Daniel O’Day pushed the button on his March 28 open letter stating the firm’s new wonder-drug (the antiviral Remdesivir) could work against COVID-19, he had every hope the company’s share price would soar – and he was right. The fact that Gilead donated around 140,000 treatment courses to expedite its possible emergence into America’s emergency response offered a much needed boost, and the company is now going full-steam ahead with the experimental drug’s pandemic PR strategy, thanks to a previous report in the New England Medical Journal.

The report revealed that 36 of 53 patients hospitalized for severe COVID-19 who were treated with compassionate-use Remdesivir had clinical improvement. Gilead’s shares surged by more than 8% in early trading on Friday, after details leaked of a closely watched clinical trial of the company’s antiviral drug Remdesivir, showing what appears to be promising results in treating COVID-19. Gilead have yet to comment.

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