In a multicenter clinical study assessing the compassionate use of remdesivir in severe COVID-19 patients, 53 patients across several countries were treated with remdesivir for 10 days (Grein et al., 2020). 68% of the 53 patients who received remdesivir showed clinical improvement assessed through improved oxygen support or extubations. Without a proper control group, limited conclusions can be drawn with regards to the efficacy of remdesivir from this study. The measured 68% clinical improvement may be in line with average clinical improvement across patients treated with standard of care (Li et al., 2020c). A small RCT in China with 237 severe COVID-19 patients randomized 2:1 to remdesivir versus placebo demonstrated no significant benefit in time to clinical improvement (Wang et al., 2020g). Almost simultaneously, preliminary results from a larger National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) RCT with more than 1,000 patients were announced with remdesevir to be associated with quicker time to recovery: 11 days compared with 15 days (Ledford, 2020). A non-significant benefit in mortality was also noted, and the trial was stopped early to allow access to remdesivir in the placebo arm. Complete safety data and full publication are awaited, but this study offers encouraging results and has resulted in an FDA emergency use authorization for remdesivir in hospitalized COVID-19 patients.