Summary: <p>Over the past few weeks, the public has been introduced — by way of Gilead Science, and a <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2020/04/16/early-peek-at-data-on-gilead-coronavirus-drug-suggests-patients-are-responding-to-treatment/">l</a><a href="https://www.statnews.com/2020/04/16/early-peek-at-data-on-gilead-coronavirus-drug-suggests-patients-are-responding-to-treatment/">eaked video</a> of doctors discussing their preliminary trial data — to a new potential therapy for Covid-19. <a href="https://www.gilead.com/purpose/advancing-global-health/covid-19/remdesivir-clinical-trials">Remdesivir</a>, a broad-spectrum antiviral medication, was cleared by the FDA this week to treat severely ill Covid-19 patients, despite limited preliminary results from a handful of clinical trials.</p> <p>Some in the media initially touted the drug as a potential miracle cure. But as the mounting pressure to cope with an increasingly dire pandemic makes anything less than a silver bullet difficult to swallow, Derek Lowe, the organic chemist behind the <a href="https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/">science blog In the Pipeline,</a> urges caution. He speaks with Bob about how to report on the so-called <a href="https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2020/04/30/about-remdesivir-and-about-game-changers">"game changer"</a> drugs, and where he believes reporting on the "race for a cure" falls short.</p>
