Gilead is studying new ways to use remdesivir as a COVID-19 treatment, CEO Daniel O'Day said Sept. 14 during a CNBC interview.
The FDA issued an emergency use authorization for remdesivir as a COVID-19 treatment May 1, stipulating that the drug only be used to treat hospitalized COVID-19 patients who are using ventilators or have low blood oxygen levels. On Aug. 28, the agency expanded remdesivir's emergency use authorization to allow for all hospitalized COVID-19 patients, regardless of case severity, to be treated with the antiviral drug.
"We're not finished with remdesivir," Mr. O'Day told CNBC.
Mr. O'Day said Gilead began clinical trials exploring intravenous remdesivir in outpatient settings in September.
He also disclosed the drugmaker began testing the drug in an inhaled form in July.
"If one could do it without an IV, right to the site of where you get this replication of the virus in the lungs, we're also hopeful that you might be able to treat outside the hospital and prevent patients from ever going to the hospital," Mr. O'Day told CNBC.