Helps 68% of Patients: Experimental Coronavirus Medication Tested in the US

According to new data based on patient observations, more than two-thirds of seriously ill patients with COVID-19 improved after treatment with Remdesivir, an experimental drug developed by California-based Gilead Sciences Inc. Writes about it New York Post.

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Analysis published New England Medical Journal, does not detail what other treatments the 61 hospitalized patients received, and data for eight of them was not included—in one case due to a dosing error.

The author of the article called the results “encouraging,” but warned that it was difficult to interpret the results because they did not include comparison with the control group, as would be the case in a randomized clinical trial. In addition, the number of patients was small, the details disclosed were limited, and the observation time was relatively short.

The study included patients in the United States, Europe, Canada and Japan who completed a 10-day course of intravenous remdesivir.

Before treatment, 30 patients were on a ventilator, and four were connected to a machine that passes the patient's blood through an artificial oxygenator.

After undergoing treatment with Remdesivir and observing for 18 days, 36 patients, or 68%, showed a significant improvement. More than half of the 30 patients who, at the time of the start of the study, were on mechanical ventilation apparatus, were able to breathe independently. 25 patients, or 47%, were discharged from the hospital. Seven patients, 13% of the total number of subjects, died.

Twelve patients, 23%, had serious side effects, including multiple organ dysfunction syndrome, septic shock, and acute kidney damage.

“We look forward to the results of controlled clinical trials to confirm our results,” wrote Dr. Jonathan Grein, lead author of the paper and director of epidemiology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

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There are currently no approved treatments or prophylactic vaccines against COVID-19, a respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus, which has killed more than 117 people worldwide.

Gilead sharply limited its remdesivir program in March and is conducting its own clinical trials of the antiviral drug, with results expected in the coming weeks. Researchers in China, as well as the US National Institutes of Health, are also testing remdesivir in patients with COVID-19.

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