Two new reports have produced conflicting results on the potential effectiveness of remdesivir, an experimental antiviral drug considered to be one of the leading hopes in the fight against COVID-19. Disappointing results emerged from the first gold-standard clinical trial for remdesivir, which found that the drug did not help patients in China with severe COVID-19. Those findings were published April 29 in The Lancet medical journal. Earlier the same day, drugmaker Gilead Sciences announced positive early findings from a U.S.-designed clinical trial being conducted at 180 sites around the world. Gilead announced that the U.S. trial will show that COVID-19 patients treated earlier with remdesivir had better outcomes than those who received the drug later in the course of their illness. The trial also will show that people who take remdesivir for five days do as well as patients who take a 10-day course, Gilead said. Based on that promising data, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration plans to announce as early as Wednesday an emergency use authorization for using remdesivir in treating coronavirus, The New York Times reported.