FDA Approves First Treatment for COVID-19, Remdesivir

A vial of the drug remdesivir is visually inspected at a Gilead manufacturing site in March 2020. Gilead Sciences via AP

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved Gilead Sciences’s antiviral drug remdesivir for the treatment of adults with COVID-19, making it the first and only FDA-approved treatment for the disease in the United States.

Gilead Sciences has branded its version of remdesivir as “Veklury.” It is administered intravenously to hospitalized patients.