The promising treatment for COVID-19, remdesivir has failed to cut hospital days and deaths among COVID-19 patients according to the World Health Organization's (WHO) big global study.
For months, remdesivir has impressed experts on its effectiveness, and even the NHS has allowed it to be used on selective patients in the UK. The early trial data of Gilead Sciences yielded positive results which led NHS to make this move because it claimed that it shortened the recovery time to four days, BMJ reports.
Until now, remdesivir is still the only drug that seems to have specific effects on the coronavirus, and it is also the only drug to be given Emergency Use Authorization by the US Food and Drug Administration.
However, this new study from WHO describes both conclusive and disappointing results that the drug has "little or no effect on mortality" for patients admitted in the hospital, and it does not seem to help as well on shortening the recovery period, CNN reports.
FILE PHOTO: An ampule of Gilead Sciences COVID-19 antiviral remdesivir is pictured during a news conference at the University Hospital Eppendorf (UKE) in Hamburg, Germany, April 8, 2020, as the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues. Ulrich Perrey/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
WHO's "Solidarity" trial
WHO's "Solidarity" trial evaluated four potential drugs for COVID-19, which includes remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine, an anti-HIV drug combination of lopinavir and ritonavir, and interferon.
However, their study results suggest that these drugs failed to help hospitalized patients live longer or help them recover faster, WHO said on Thursday. The UN health agency has not yet published their study in a peer-reviewed medical journal but has posted it to a pre-print server.
According to The Hill reported that WHO's study is considered to be the world's largest randomized control trial on medicines against COVID-19, which spanned across more than 30 countries, 405 hospitals, and 11,266 adult patients.
WHO said that the trial was able to get conclusive evidence on the imp[act of drugs on COVID-19 mortality, the need for ventilation, and the duration for a hospitalized patient to recover.
"For each drug in the study, the effect on mortality was disappointingly unpromising," WHO said. The health agency's chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said that they had to stop administering hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir/ritonavir in June during the study because they are ineffective.
As of now, they are looking at what's the next step in testing possible treatments for COVID-19 patients, such as the monoclonal antibodies, immunomodulatory, and some newer anti-viral drugs that have been developed in the past few months.
Gilead's Reaction to WHO's Study
According to Reuters, Gilead Sciences has shown earlier this month that its data from a US study has cutback hospital days compared to patients who only received the placebo in a trial involving 1,062 patients.
Gilead said that the emerging study by WHO seems to be inconsistent with other previous studies that showed robust evidence of the effectiveness of remdesivir conducted on multiple randomized and controlled studies that were published in peer-reviewed journals.
Furthermore, they added that they are concerned that the data from WHO's study has failed to undergo the rigorous review necessary for allowing a constructive scientific discussion given the trial design's limitations.
On May 1, the US FDA has granted remdesivir an Emergency Use Authorization and has since received authorization use in other countries.
Read More: Gilead Finally Releases Price for Esteemed Coronavirus Drug Remdesivir; Can People Afford It?
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