There's a nice diagram from Science that shows how Remdesivir and other potential anti-coronavirus drugs work: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/368/6493/829/F1.l...

The biggest problem with remdesivir is that it is administered intravenously. That makes it very hard to administer unless the patient is in the hospital. What would be ideal is if they had it in pill form, and then anyone with early symptoms could get pills instead. But without that option right now it makes it too late to administer unless the patient is already in severe condition.

They are planning on testing an inhalant version but who knows where that will land in terms of effectiveness. It might make things worse so that is much further out unless things are really lucky, which we haven’t had a lot of with coronavirus.

I am wondering, Wikipedia claims that the active metabolite of this drug is a medicine for cats sold on black market; what is the price? I am sure it is way less than the ridiculous price they want for Remdesivir.

Nucleoside analogs are notorious for breeding resistance, which is why they should ideally be used in combo with other drugs.

IIRC, Gilead has tried to pull this drug off the shelf as a cure multiple times, for different diseases, only to have it proven to not be very efficacious.

As soon as they announced it as a COVID treatment, I assumed it was another cash grab while people are confused, desperate, and scared.