According to a study of more than 11,000 people from 30 countries sponsored by the World Health Organization, the only antiviral drug authorized to treat covid-19 in the United States, remedicivir, has failed to prevent death in patients.
Data posted online on Thursday, has not yet been peer-reviewed or published in a scientific journal.
An infectious-disease physician from the University of Alberta, Canada, Dr. “This relaxes the issue – there’s definitely no benefit in mortality,” said Ilan Schwartz.
But an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, Dr. Peter Chin-Hong was more the result.
Large trials like this, conducted in different countries with different health care systems, could lead to inconsistent treatment protocols, the effectiveness of which can be difficult to analyze, he said.
“Take great care,” said Dr. Chin-hong said. “Medicine is just one part of it.”
Ramdesivir, which originally developed as a treatment for Ebola and hepatitis C, interferes with viral reproduction by jamming into new viral genes.
The drug was approved for emergency after a trial by the National Institutes of Health on May 1 by the Food and Drug Administration, which found that remedivisor reduced moderate time in critically ill patients.
That study also did not find that rimadesivir prevents death in COMID-19 patients. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, admitted at the time that remedivir was not a “knockout” drug.
New CTO. In a final analysis published in The New England Journal of Medicine on On, according to drug manufacturer Gilead, some patients receiving remedivir have a “tendency toward a reduction in mortality”.
Gilliad on Thursday disputed the findings of the WHO study, noting that different drug and drug combinations were evaluated under different circumstances and benefited from a more rigorous study.
Due to its design, there was a “significant uniqueness” in the way the trial was conducted. “As a result, it is unclear whether any conclusive conclusions can be drawn from the results of the study,” the company said in a statement.
Antiviral has become part of the standard of care for Covid-19 patients in the United States, and with its approval thousands of patients have been recruited, including President Trump after being diagnosed with Covid-19 this month.
The treatment rate for this drug for privately insured patients in the United States is 1 3,120 per course.
However, the emergency authorization of Remedizvir was extended in August to include all hospitalized patients, regardless of the severity of the disease, in those who were sick enough to need supplemental oxygen or respiratory assistance.
The move was criticized by some experts, who said the FDA made the change without sufficient evidence.
The WHO study, known as the Solidarity Trial, enrolled more than 11,300 adults with Covid-19 in 405 hospitals in 30 countries. Participants were given four drugs alone or in combination: rimadesivir, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir, interferon or interferon plus lopinavir. About 4,100 people received no drug treatment.
In the end, there was no reduction in mortality from any drug or combination, compared to patients without drug treatment, the possibility of mechanical ventilation or the possibility of spending time in the hospital.
Some previous studies have pointed to the futility of hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir as a treatment against coronavirus. Fewer data have been published on interferon, a molecule produced by the immune system in response to a virus.
In their manuscript, the study authors called the overall findings “somewhat useless” and said they were “sufficient to dispel initial expectations” that any drugs tested would “significantly reduce inpatient mortality, the onset of ventilation or hospitalization period.”
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Rimdesivir’s findings, based on previous findings, are not terribly surprising, but they are “still effective,” especially given the fatty size of the unity trial, said Yale University infectious disease physician Dr. Said Mericar Malinis.
However, Dr. Schwartz and Drs. Both Mericar have noted that remedicative can still benefit people with covid-19 during their illness.
Severe covid-19 is largely triggered by an immune response that begins several days after the virus infects the body. Before that happens, the antiviral immune system can adequately tamper with the virus to protect the person from friendly fire.
Remedesivir’s management may be pointless after that point, Dr. Schwartz added, “The horse is out of the barn.”
