Asia Stocks Plunge on the Report of a Failed Clinical Trial to Treat COVID-19 Patients

Stocks in Asia were mostly traded lower on Friday, April 24, 2020, as investors were disappointed by the failed clinical trial on coronavirus patients.

 

Japan’s Nikkei dropped 1.04%, China’s SSEC slipped 0.29%, Hong Kong’s HSI plunged 0.88%, Korea’s Kospi dipped 0.87% while Australia’s ASX 200 rose 0.32%

 

The Financial Times reported that the World Health Organization accidentally published a report which stated that “remdesivir”, the potential antiviral drug for the coronavirus developed by California-based Gilead Sciences, did not improve patients’ condition or reduce the pathogen’s presence in the bloodstream.

The report disappointed investors who were hoping that the drug would help improve patients’ condition amid the deceleration of coronavirus cases in many countries, so that the business would reopen and the world economy could be recovered as fast as it could.