MESO action tonight, page-827

this from Fauci and other this morning in the AFR

"What it has proven is that a drug can block this virus," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the US government's top infectious-disease expert. "This will be the standard of care.""It is a very important proof of concept, because what it has proved is that a drug can block this virus," Fauci said.The trial enrolled 1,063 patients who were given remdesivir or a placebo, according to NIAID. The time to recovery averaged 11 days among those who got the drug, compared with 15 days for those who got the placebo.AdvertisementThere were fewer deaths in the remdesivir group, but the result did not reach statistical significance, Fauci said.Fauci cautioned that the results of the study still need to be properly peer reviewed, but he expressed optimism that remdesivir would become "the standard of care" for patients with COVID-19.Dr Michele Barry, global health expert at Stanford University, said she had faith in Fauci's assessment. Still, she added, "It is unusual to call a drug the 'standard of care' until peer review of data and publication, and before studies have shown benefit in mortality."