(Reuters) – Gilead Sciences Inc said on Monday it has filed a marketing application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its experimental COVID-19 drug remdesivir.

The antiviral drug, to be available under the brand name Veklury, is one of the few treatments to have shown to be effective against the respiratory illness.

The treatment has got the U.S. health regulator’s approval for emergency use in hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19.

The marketing application is supported by data from two late-stage human trials conducted by Gilead and another late-stage trial by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the company said.

The drug has been at the forefront in the fight against the respiratory illness after the intravenously administered medicine helped shorten hospital recovery times in a U.S. trial.

FILE PHOTO: Gilead Sciences Inc pharmaceutical company is seen after they announced a Phase 3 Trial of the investigational antiviral drug Remdesivir in patients with severe coronavirus disease (COVID-19), during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Oceanside, California, U.S., April 29, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

Remdesivir has been approved by multiple regulatory authorities around the world, including in the European Union and Japan.

 

Reporting by Manojna Maddipatla in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Shounak Dasgupta

 
 
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