Gilead Sciences Inc reported that its antiviral drug remdesivir provided a modest benefit in patients with moderate Covid-19 given a five-day course of the treatment, while those who received the medicine for 10 days in the study did not fare as well, according to Reuters.

The late stage study of nearly 600 patients evaluated the safety and efficacy of five and 10-day treatment with remdesivir in addition to standard care for those with moderate Covid-19 compared with standard care alone.

At day 11, around 76 per cent of the patients in the five-day treatment group showed improvement in clinical status versus 66pc for standard care alone, Gilead said.

Around 70pc of the patients who received remdesivir for 10 days showed improvement, “trending toward but not reaching statistical significance,” the drugmaker said.