As Gilead Sciences' investigational remdesivir emerged as a promising drug against the new coronavirus, a Chinese research institute has applied to patent that use. Gilead's CEO Daniel O'Day said the company doesn't plan to get into a dispute, stressing that its “responsibility is the patients.” A paper published in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) late last week described the use of the drug on the first 2019-nCoV patient in the U.S. Ten days into the illness, the patient was showing signs of pneumonia, required supplemental oxygen, suffered ongoing fevers and was positive for 2019-nCoV RNA at multiple sites. On day 11, the physicians administered remdesivir on a compassionate use basis. The next day, the patient’s condition improved, leading to the discontinuation of supplemental oxygen and cessation of all symptoms apart from intermittent dry cough and rhinorrhea. China-Japan Friendship Hospital plans to randomize 270 patients with mild-to-...