9 updates on drugs being tested to treat COVID-19

As Gilead's remdesivir remains the only fully approved drug to treat COVID-19, researchers are testing many others, both new and repurposed, against the virus. 

Here are nine updates on some of the drugs being tested, reported since the beginning of June: 

1. GlaxoSmithKline and Vir Biotechnology's COVID-19 antibody drug, sotrovimab, resulted in a 79 percent reduction in the risk of hospitalization from COVID-19 for more than 24 hours in a clinical trial. The National Institutes of Health has authorized sotrovimab for nonhospitalized people with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 who are at high risk of clinical progression.
   
   
2. Gilead's remdesivir, sold under the brand name Veklury, reduced mortality rates in hospitalized COVID-19 patients and increased their likelihood of being discharged by day 28 after a five-day regimen. Remdesivir became the first FDA-approved COVID-19 treatment in October.
   
   
3. The U.S. said it plans to invest more than $3 billion to develop antiviral drugs to treat COVID-19. The money will go to speeding up clinical trials of several promising drug candidates. 

4. Regeneron's COVID-19 antibody cocktail, casirivimab and imdevimab, reduced the risk of death among hospitalized patients by 20 percent in a phase 3 trial.
   
   
5. AstraZeneca's COVID-19 antibody drug, AZD7442, does not prevent symptomatic COVID-19 infection in people recently exposed to the virus, a phase 3 trial found.
   
   
6. Aspirin does not improve survival rates for hospitalized COVID-19 patients, a study conducted by researchers at the University of Oxford in England found
   
   
7. The U.S. signed a deal to purchase 1.7 million courses of Mercks' COVID-19 antiviral drug molnupiravir for $1.2 billion if it's authorized by the FDA. It is an experimental oral antiviral designed to treat patients with mild to moderate disease who are at risk of developing severe disease.
   
   
8. The FDA authorized an injectable version of Regeneron's COVID-19 drug REGEN-COV, a combination of two monoclonal antibodies, casirivimab and imdevimab. It was granted emergency use authorization in November for treatment of COVID-19 patients who are at high risk of their cases becoming severe.
   
   
9. Researchers from the National Institutes of Health found Tempol, an experimental oral drug, may be a promising treatment for COVID-19. The study showed the drug can reduce COVID-19 infections by targeting an enzyme the virus needs to make copies of itself in the body.