El Paso hospitals to receive 3rd shipment of virus treatment Remdesivir

EL PASO, Texas -- El Paso hospitals will yet again be getting more of an antiviral drug that has shown promise in the treatment of Covid-19.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Sunday that six El Paso hospitals will be getting eleven additional cases of the antiviral drug remdesivir. The state Health Services Department is receiving the drug from the federal government for distribution to local hospitals.

This is the third shipment of the drug to Sun City medical facilities. Borderland hospitals previously received 9 cases in June and a dozen cases originally in May.

Each case contains 40 vials of the drug. Depending on the patient's condition, they may require more or less doses of the drug. The FDA's emergency use authorization allows both a 10-day course of treatment for coronavirus patients on ventilators and a 5-day course for those not on ventilators.

Trials have shown Remdesivir has helped some Covid-19 patients recover quicker than those who were not given the drug.