OREANDA-NEWS. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the antiviral drug remdesivir (trade name Veklury) for the treatment of patients with COVID-19. This was reported on the agency’s website.

The FDA noted that Veklury is the first medicine against coronavirus infection to receive its approval. In May, the regulator already authorized the use of remdesivir in emergency cases. Now the department has emphasized that the permit does not apply to all patients, but to those who require hospitalization.

The website of Gilead Sciences, manufacturer of remdesivir, informs that the drug can be used by adults and children over 12 years old and weighing at least 40 kilograms, and only in hospitals.

In early June, the World Health Organization named remdesivir as the only antiviral medicine that showed encouraging results against COVID-19 during testing.