In the race to develop a treatment for COVID-19, Gilead Sciences may have found a winner with remdesivir. In a study by Vanderbilt University Medical Center, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Gilead, researchers found that the experimental drug inhibited the coronavirus in human lung cell cultures in the laboratory. Their results also showed that lung function improved in mice infected with the disease.
Since January, doctors have prescribed to remivide inpatients with COVID-19 when few other options are available. The drug has been undergoing clinical trials since February, and preliminary reports indicated that it may help patients recover more quickly. But researchers still need more comprehensive preclinical and laboratory evidence of its effectiveness.
“All the results with remdesivir have been very encouraging, even more than we would have expected,” said Andrea Pruijssers, research assistant at Vanderbilt and co-author of the study, “but it is still research, so it was important to directly demonstrate its activity. ” against SARS-CoV-2 in the laboratory and in an animal model of disease. “
Further research will focus on the effects of remdesivir at various stages of the disease and in combination with other drugs. Other studies suggest that it may help fight a variety of coronaviruses that could jump into humans in the future.
“We hope that never happens, but just when we were working to characterize remdesivir in the last six years to be prepared for a virus like SARS-CoV-2, we are working and investing now to prepare for any future coronavirus,” Mark Denison, Vanderbilt investigator said. “We want remdesivir and other drugs to be useful both now and in the future.”
Researchers will need to closely monitor whether patients develop liver damage, a rare but serious side effect of remdesivir, according to a Medscape article published July 8.JB
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