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WASHINGTON: The experimental antiviral drug remdesivir has been shown to be effective against COVID-19 in a small experiment with monkeys, US government scientists reported Friday. USA
The study, which is preliminary and has not yet been peer reviewed, was designed to follow the dosing and treatment procedures used for inpatients with COVID-19 in a large human trial.
It involved two groups of six rhesus macaques that were deliberately infected with SARS-CoV-2.
One group received the drug, which was developed by Gilead Sciences, and the other group did not.
The group receiving the drug received their first intravenous dose 12 hours after infection and then daily thereafter for six days.
The scientists programmed the initial treatment to occur shortly before the virus reached its highest levels in the animals’ lungs.
Treated animals showed significant improvement 12 hours after their first dose, a trend that continued throughout the one-week study.
One of the six treated animals showed mild respiratory distress, while the six untreated monkeys had rapid and difficult breathing.
The amount of virus found in the lungs was significantly less in the treated group compared to the untreated group. The treated group also had less lung damage.
Remdesivir was one of the first drugs discussed as a treatment for the new coronavirus, and its randomized clinical trials are at an advanced stage.
The health news website Stat He reported Thursday that the drug had shown great efficacy at a Chicago hospital where patients who are part of those trials are being treated.
Remdesivir causes the virus to add mutations that can destroy it.
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