U.S. regulators will allow emergency use of an experimental drug that appears to help some coronavirus patients recover faster. It is the first drug shown to help fight COVID-19.

The Food and Drug Administration acted Friday after preliminary results from a government-sponsored study showed that the drug remdesivir shortened the time to recovery for hospitalized COVID-19 patients. The drug also might be reducing deaths, although that’s not certain from the partial results revealed so far.

Drugmaker Gilead Sciences has said it would donate its currently available stock of the drug and is ramping up production to make more.