OVER 65,000 Americans have died from the coronavirus (Shutterstock).

A drug that showed promise in battling the coronavirus will be fast-tracked  into production, the Food and Drug Administration announced on Friday.

The drug – remdesivir, produced by Gilead Science – is not a vaccine or cure, but it has shown good results in shortening the course of the infection and in reducing its severity.

FDA Commissioner Daniel O’Day on Friday said “This was lightning speed in terms of getting something approved,” according to the Associated Press.

The drug’s use will focus on hospital patients with severe symptoms of COVID-19, such as breathing problems.

A British pharmaceutical project at Oxford University in England is also pursuing a drug showing promise, but it has not been approved for public use.

As of Friday, there were 1.13 million confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S., and 65,435 deaths. Worldwide the figure is 3.3 million cases and 235,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University, which compiles statistics on the pandemic.

Biden says assault “never, never happened”

JOE BIDEN (Shutterstock).

Former vice president and presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden told an interviewer Friday morning that the alleged sexual assault of a staffer in 1993 “absolutely did not happen.”

Biden was a guest on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program in which he publicly addressed the accusation for the first time.

Tara Reade, who worked in Biden’s Senate office, alleged that she was pushed into a corner and touched on her genital area. Reade said she filed a complaint at the time, but Biden says there is no record of any such filing.

Missing N. Korean leader shows up

After widespread speculation about his health and possible death, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un showed up on Friday.

According to United Press International, Un’s appearance was to cut the ribbon at the opening of a fertilizer factory. He was last seen in public on April 12.

Un, 36, is Supreme Leader of Democratic Republic of Korea (commonly called North Korea) and chairman of the Workers Party of Korea. He is he grandson of Kim Il-Sung, the first dictator of the partitioned nation.

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