Health security

Have doctors found a drug to fight coronavirus? Two experts reveal how experimental antiviral remdesivir saved one woman who was in critical condition and helped 14 infected Diamond Princess passengers

Two top doctors believe an experimental drug has helped save the lives of American coronavirus patients 

George Thompson, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California Davis Medical Center, was part of the team that administered the drug, remdesivir, to a sickly American woman who tested positive for the virus on February 26. 

'We thought they were going to pass away,' Thompson told Science magazine Friday about the patient - who was the first known 'community spread' case in the United States. 

However, 36 hours after the woman was admitted to hospital, doctors decided to treat her with remdesivir, which is administered  by intravenous drip and 'cripples an enzyme named RNA polymerase  - used by many viruses to copy themselves'.