'What's weird about remdesivir is that it hasn't been held to the same standards as other drug candidates.

Covid-19 vaccines have been developed 10 times faster than traditional drugs, but they've passed the phase-3 clinical trials that test whether a potential medicine is both safe and effective in thousands of people.

Normally, a drug is only approved for use by a regulatory body like the US Food and Drug Administration if it meets the two criteria for safety and efficacy. Nonetheless, in October 2020, remdesivir was granted approval by FDA based on promising data from relatively small trials with about 1000 participants.