For more than a week, doctors at two South Florida hospitals have been administering a closely watched antiviral, remdesivir, and studying the effects it has for treating COVID-19. Fewer than 20 patients in South Florida have received the drug so far.
On Wednesday, the prospects became more encouraging for the medicine, developed by California-based Gilead Sciences initially to treat Ebola virus, when the early results from a clinical trial were made public. The trial, funded by the National Institutes of Health, showed that people who received the drug recovered quicker and died at a lower rate.
In South Florida, the drug has been used, under conditions set by the company, for six patients at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach and nine patients at Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood.
Jackson Health System, Miami’s public hospital, said it was recently approved for the program but hasn’t received the medication yet. The drug is also being used at other Florida hospitals, including Sarasota Memorial Hospital…
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