What happened Shares of NRx Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: NRXP) surged on Monday after the healthcare company released promising clinical trial data for its investigational COVID-19 treatment, aviptadil. By the close of trading, NRx's stock price was up 20% after rising as much as 53.9% earlier in the day. So what An analysis conducted by respected statistician Dr. David Schoenfeld found that patients treated with aviptadil had a significantly higher probability of recovering from critical COVID-19 and respiratory failure than those who received existing therapies. Among those who previously received Gilead Sciences' (NASDAQ: GILD) remdesivir, patients treated with aviptadil were 2.5 times more likely to be alive and free of respiratory failure at 60 days than those who received a placebo. Image source: Getty Images. "The study provides preliminary evidence that aviptadil is effective in increasing the odds of recovery and survival from respiratory failure among the sickest COVID patients," Dr. Schoenfeld said. Now what The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently chose to not grant Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for aviptadil. Yet NRx intends to submit a new EUA request based on these promising results. Meanwhile, the drug remains in phase 3 trials funded in part by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). "The definitive findings on our medicine will come from the global trial currently being conducted by the NIH, which is more than halfway enrolled," NRx CEO Jonathan Javitt said in a press release. "However, at a time when COVID deaths are surging, we hope that the FDA will consider these new clinical findings in patients who have exhausted currently approved therapies." 10 stocks we like better than NRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc.When our award-winning analyst team has a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* They just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now... and NRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of November 10, 2021 Joe Tenebruso has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Gilead Sciences. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.Source