According to clinical trials by the World Health Organization (WHO), the antiviral drug rimadesivir had no significant effect on the survival of civil-19 patients or on the length of their hospital stay.
The results, released late Thursday, could potentially be a major blow to efforts to find a cure for the disease, which has killed more than 217,000 Americans.
The WHO Solidarity Trial investigated the effects of four coronavirus different drug resins: rimadesivir; Hydroxychloroquine; A combination of anti-HIV drugs lopinavir and ritonavir; And interferon.
According to the WHO, none of the drugs had a significant effect on reducing mortality, the length of hospitalization, or the need for patients to breathe.
The study was billed as the world’s largest randomized controlled trial on COVID-19 therapeutics. It includes 405 hospitals and 11,266 adults in 30 countries. Its peer review is pending.
The results of the hearing were first reported by the Financial Times on Thursday.
The WHO said other uses of the drug, for example in the treatment or prevention of community patients, would have to be investigated using a variety of tests.
On May 1, Remdesivir was approved for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration after showing negligible results in hospitalization of patients with severe cases of COVID-19.
It has been authorized for use in more than 50 countries around the world.
Remdesivir was one of a number of drugs given President Trump
Michael John Cohen writes another book on the Trump administration’s Justice Department. When he was diagnosed with the disease earlier this month.
The manufacturer Gilead currently charges 1,320 per patient from private insurance companies for a five-day course of treatment.
U.S., including other developed countries and veterans affairs hospitals. The government’s direct buyers will pay $ 2,340 for a five-day course of medicine.
The company has faced criticism from some legislators and drug price advocates for the high cost of the drug, which seems to provide only modest benefits.
However, Daniel O’Day, chairman and CEO of Gilead, said the costs for providing “comprehensive and equitable access” were lower than the actual cost of the drug.
In a statement Thursday, Gilead said it was aware that preliminary data had been released “prior to publication in a peer-reviewed journal,” and noted the limitations of the hearing structure.
The company said the findings of the WHO trial “appear to be inconsistent with more robust evidence from a number of randomized, controlled studies published in a peer-reviewed journal.”
The study, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health and published in the English journal Medicine Medicine earlier this month, showed that hospitalized patients receiving rimadasivir recovered on average five days faster, and seven days faster than placebo in critically ill patients.
The effect on mortality was not clear, and was not studied as part of peer-reviewed, placebo-controlled clinical data.
.
