A majority of a small group of patients showed improvements after being treated with an experimental coronavirus treatment made by Gilead Sciences, bolstering hopes for finding a treatment for the disease, according to a study published Friday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

It is now surely one of the most-read medical reports among caregivers in intensive care units around the world who are bracing for the novel coronavirus. The paper, published in the British medical journal the Lancet last month by a team of doctors working at the center of the outbreak, is the first study to characterize the clinical course, treatment and mortality of a group of critically ill patients infected by the new SARS-CoV-2 virus.