'Remdesivir' drug raises hope for treatment against COVID-19

Severe coronavirus patients respond positively to the new antiviral drug 'Remdesivir'. Many patients left the hospital within a week after being treated with the drug. However, scientists have asked for caution as the data is only from partial trials carried with the drug.

Chicago: A potential drug from pharmaceutical major Gilead Sciences has shown tremendous promise in an ongoing clinical trial at the University of Chicago Medical Center where 36 of 53 severe COVID-19 patients who were treated with anti-viral medicine remdesivir have shown clinical improvement.

According to the STAT report, patients with severe symptoms were being discharged from the hospital within a week. A University of Chicago hospital is analysing both five and 10 days courses of the drug.

Gilead's severe Covid-19 study includes 2,400 participants from 152 different clinical trial sites all over the world.

Remdesivir by Gilead Sciences is one of several drugs being fast-tracked into trials by the World Health Organization, comparing potential treatments in hospitalised COVID-19 patients in a dozen countries, including Canada.

Meanwhile, the treatment is not approved but researchers are still studying the effectiveness of the drug to come up with a proper conclusion.

Remdesivir by Gilead Sciences is one of several drugs being fast-tracked into trials by the World Health Organization, comparing potential treatments in hospitalised COVID-19 patients in a dozen countries, including Canada.

Treatment with Gilead Sciences's experimental drug remdesivir led to clinical improvement in 68 per cent of 53 patients hospitalised with severe complications of COVID-19, another study said this week. The drug was provided on an individual compassionate use basis.

Nearly two thirds of patients in this cohort were on mechanical ventilation at baseline, including four patients also on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).

"Currently there is no proven treatment for COVID-19. We cannot draw definitive conclusions from these data, but the observations from this group of hospitalized patients who received remdesivir are hopeful," said Jonathan D. Grein, Director of Hospital Epidemiology, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, and lead author of the journal article.

Since January 25, 2020, Gilead has been providing emergency access to remdesivir for qualifying patients with severe complications of COVID-19 who are unable to enroll in ongoing clinical trials.