With society clamoring for something—anything—that can stem the rapidly rising death toll of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gilead Sciences’ antiviral remdesivir has emerged as a closely watched treatment option. Laboratory studies of other coronaviruses suggested the drug might be able to take down this new one, which causes COVID-19. As the outbreak took hold in China in January, it was among the first treatments that doctors tried. Now, with cases worldwide at more than 3 million, scrutiny of data coming out of clinical trials of the drug has reached fever pitch. When the health-focused news site Stat posted a story based on a leaked video of a University of Chicago clinician talking optimistically about remdesivir’s possible effectiveness, it didn’t just prop up Gilead’s stock price; it lifted the entire stock market. With each new anecdote, whether about an individual patient or a hunch from a doctor running a trial, the pressure