Gilead CEO: Remdesivir available to coronavirus patients this week, ‘We’ve donated the entire supply’

CNBC reports that Gilead’s antiviral drug, remdesivir, has shown success in helping coronavirus patients recover faster. 

Gilead Sciences’ coronavirus fighting drug will be in the hands of doctors and patients as early as this week, the biotechnology company’s CEO said Sunday,

– CNBC reports. 

Key notes

• “We intend to get [remdesivir] to patients in the early part of this next week, beginning to work with the government which will determine which cities are most vulnerable and where the patients are that need this medicine,” Gilead Sciences chairman and CEO Daniel O’Day told CBS’ “Face of the Nation.”
• Gilead Sciences donated its entire supply of the drug to the US government. 
• “We’ve donated the entire supply that we have within our supply chain and we did that because we acknowledge and recognize the human suffering, the human need here, and want to make sure nothing gets in the way of this getting to patients,” O’Day added.

Market implications

Some good news from a weekend of risk-off headlines could help to balance the start of the week's fundamental drivers:

CNBC reports that "Gilead released preliminary results from its clinical trial on its antiviral drug remdesivir last week, showing at least 50% of the COVID-19 patients treated with a five-day dosage of the drug improved. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases then released a study that showed Covid-19 patients who took remdesivir usually recovered after 11 days, four days faster than those who didn’t take the drug."

Taking AUD/JPY, the FX space's risk barometer, the cross is in a precarious area structurally on the charts and is ripe for a major sell-off on souring geopolitical news. While the remdesivir story is positive markets, it likely doesn't balance out a far greater risk to global markets which should dictate the flow of money on a longer-term outlook – trade wars are back on the market's agenda.

More on that here: What you need to know as markets open: Pompeo and Trump ratcheted up US and China tensions and Forex Today: Slow start to another busy week