‘ Genuine Evidence Of Improvement ’ : Remdesivir Helped Some Coronavirus Patients In Study

(CNN) — A five-day course of the antiviral drug remdesivir sped recovery in moderately ill patients with pneumonia from Covid-19, drugmaker Gilead Sciences announced in a statement Monday. It’s more evidence that the drug can help patients, however outside experts are not calling this a “game changer” quite yet. Coronavirus patients who were hospitalized, but not sick enough to need oxygen from a ventilator, were more likely to recover after a five-day course of remdesivir than those given the current standard of care alone, Gilead said. The results from the Phase III clinical trial on the drug have not yet been published in a peer-reviewed medical journal. Gilead said it plans to submit the full data for publication in the coming weeks. “With the latest data announced today, we now have three randomized, controlled clinical trials demonstrating that remdesivir improved clinical outcomes by several different measures,” Dr. Merdad Parsey, chief medical officer for Gilead Sciences, said in a company statement. Gilead originally studied remdesivir as a potential treatment for Ebola, but lab experiments suggested it might be active against coronavirus. The US Food and Drug Administration has not approved any treatment for Covid-19 — but in early May, the FDA issued an emergency use authorization for remdesivir for use as a treatment for the sickest hospitalized Covid-19 patients. Remdesivir is approved to treat Covid-19 in Japan, but is c...
Source: WBZ-TV - Breaking News, Weather and Sports for Boston, Worcester and New Hampshire - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Boston News Health CNN Coronavirus remdesivir Source Type: news