Foster City Company Saves the World

Gilead Sciences ($100 billion market cap) pulled up the entire market ($30 trillion) on Wednesday.

OK, "saving the world" is overblown, but it's not a complete exaggeration.

Government scientists reported that remdesivir, which is owned by Foster City-based Gilead Sciences, improved coronavirus patient outcomes:

The U.S. study compared recovery times for 1,063 hospitalized patients taking either remdesivir or placebo...

Patients taking remdesivir recovered in 11 days, compared with 15 days for patients taking placebo, a 31% improvement that was statistically significant, NIAID said in a news release.

In the remdesivir group, 8% of patients died, compared with 11.6% of patients in the placebo arm. The survival difference wasn’t statistically significant, however.

The key takeaway is

Gilead is in active discussions with the Food and Drug Administration about securing emergency authorization for remdesivir,

When it receives FDA clearance, remdesivir will be the first COVID-19 medication approved for use in hospitals.

The remdesivir results were good but did not guarantee that a patient would recover. So why the enthusiasm?

Market participants may think that other favorable developments were coming soon. Also, remdesivir tells the public that an effective treatment is available and reduces the risk of venturing out of homes. Restoring confidence about health and safety is perhaps the most significant obstacle to recovery.

A Foster City company didn't save the world, but it did signal that we've turned the corner.

Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning. ---Winston Churchill