The antiviral drug remdesivir cut death rates 17% to 25% in adults hospitalized for COVID-19 who didn’t require supplemental oxygen at admission, suggests a large US study published yesterday in Open Forum Infectious Diseases.

The study, led by researchers from remdesivir (Veklury) developer Gilead Sciences, used a multicenter US hospital billing database to compare rates of in-hospital death among 58,188 patients on room air who received at least one dose of remdesivir within the first 2 days of hospital admission and 17,574 matched patients not given the drug. The drug is most effective when given early in infection, when viral replication is most active.