According to the full results of a trial published Friday night, anti-viral drug remdesivir cuts recovery times in coronavirus patients.
The results of the research carried out by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), were published by leading medical periodical the New England Journal of Medicine.
The study found that injecting remdesivir daily for 10 days speeds up the recovery of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in clinical tests on just over a thousand patients across 10 countries.
On April 29, NIAID director Anthony Fauci, the most trusted person for US government in this pandemic time, said preliminary evidence indicated remdesivir had a “clear-cut, significant and positive effect in diminishing the time to recovery.”
The United States and FDI gave permissions for the emergency use of remdesivir in hospitals on May 1 and then even Japan gave the permissions.
The National Institutes of Health, of which the NIAID is a part, said Friday in a statement online that investigators found “remdesivir was most beneficial for hospitalized patients with severe disease who required supplemental oxygen.“
Though it is clearly mentioned that the drug did not prevent all deaths, a noticeable amount of recovery was observed.
“Given high mortality despite the use of remdesivir, it is clear that treatment with an anti-viral drug alone is not likely to be sufficient,” they said.
About 7.1 percent of patients given remdesivir in the trial group died within 14 days—compared with 11.9 percent in the placebo group.
However, the result is just below the statistical reliability threshold, meaning it could be down to chance rather than the capability of the drug.
Journal:
John H. Beigel et al. Remdesivir for the Treatment of Covid-19—Preliminary Report, New England Journal of Medicine (2020). DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2007764
