COVID-19: Patients Recovering Quickly After Getting Experimental Drug Remdesivir

Patients who tested positive for the Covid-19 getting treatment with an experimental drug called remdesivir have been recovering quickly, with most going home in days, STAT News reported on Thursday.

The report quoted Kathleen Mullane, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Chicago, who is leading the clinical trial, as saying that the coronavirus patients who were participating in the clinical trial were able to recover and leave the hospital in less than a week after suffering severe respiratory symptoms and fever.

“The best news is that most of our patients have already been discharged, which is great. We’ve only had two patients perish,” Mullan said.

Covid-19 has no approved therapy or specific treatment, however, the National Institutes of Health (NIS) is testing several drugs and other treatments, including the Remdesivir.

Remdesivir is a drug made by Gilead Sciences, which was tested against Ebola, but was not effective.

Studies conducted in animals inferred that the drug could both prevent and treat coronaviruses related to Covid-19, SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) and MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome).

Recall that the World Health Organisation had in February said that Remdesivir was a potential drug against Covid-19.

STAT said in the report that it had viewed a copy of the video discussion Mullane had with colleagues about the trial of Remdesivir last week.

“Most of our patients are severe and most of them are leaving at six days, so that tells us duration of therapy doesn’t have to be 10 days,” she said.

Meanwhile, Gilead is sponsoring tests of the drug in 2,400 patients with severe Covid-19 symptoms in 152 trial sites around the world.

The company is also testing the drug in 1,600 patients with moderate symptoms at 169 hospitals and clinics around the world, while results from the trial would be expected by the end of the month.

Similarly, Gilead told CNN that, “We understand the urgent need for a COVID-19 treatment and the resulting interest in data on our investigational antiviral drug remdesivir.

“The totality of the data need to be analysed in order to draw any conclusions from the trial. Anecdotal reports, while encouraging, do not provide the statistical power necessary to determine the safety and efficacy profile of remdesivir as a treatment for Covid-19.”