Remdesivir: Effective Drug Against COVID-19 but not enough on its own

Just a short post regarding Remdesivir...

In the article dated 30th April 2020, I briefly mentioned Remdesivir which is an antiviral drug developed in 2014 by the California-based company Gilead Sciences.

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Remdesivir was developed as a treatment for Ebola; however, it has shown antiviral activity against the Nipah virus, Lassa fever virus and other coronaviruses such as SARS and MERS.

On 1 May 2020 it was authorised by the FDA  for the treatment of acute cases of COVID-19 and on 8th May 2020 Japan approved it for the COVID-19 treatment. A few days ago it was finally approved for COVID-19 patients in the UK, 3 weeks after the USA approval of the drug.

Preliminary results indicate that patients receiving Remdesivir had a faster recovery compared to those on placebo-a 4-day difference. The mortality rate of those on placebo was higher than those who were on Remdesivir, according to NIH.

Recent research has shown though that Remdesivir alone is not enough and a successful COVID-19 treatment will probably involve a combination of different drugs including Remdesivir.

The study is ongoing and the preliminary results look promising.

Results update is pending and should be available soon.