An antiviral drug originally designed to treat Ebola virus has shown positive data in experimental treatment of coronavirus patients.
The drug manufacturer Gilead Sciences said preliminary results from their phase 3 trial of the drug, Remdesivir against severe Coronavirus showed improved symptoms in patients who were given the drug both early and late in treatment.
The hopeful signs announced on Wednesday from two separate trials of the drug prompted request for the treatment to receive emergency use authorisation from the United States Food & Drug Administration.
Former Food and Drug Administration commissioner Dr Scott Gottlieb said the new data should push the drug over the line to emergency use authorisation to treat coronavirus.
He noted that;
As we’ve been saying for some time now, accumulating data on Remdesivir suggests it’s active against covid and there’s now enough data to support consideration of access under an emergency use authorization by FDA.
According to Gilead Sciences study, 397 patients with severe infections were given the drug over five and 10-day courses and they found that more than half were discharged from hospital within 14 days.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Merdad Parsey said;
It demonstrates the potential for some patients to be treated with a 5-day regimen, which could significantly expand the number of patients who could be treated with our current supply of remdesivir.
This is particularly important in the setting of a pandemic, to help hospitals and healthcare workers treat more patients in urgent need of care.
Gilead Sciences also stated that it is aware of positive data emerging in a separate study by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases that also met its main goal.
Remdesivir trials at Gilead Sciences complement data from the placebo-controlled study of Remdesivir conducted by the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases and help to determine the optimal duration of treatment with Remdesivir.
The double-blind, placebo-controlled study is looking at more than 800 patients with critical, severe and moderate cases of Covid-19.
On his part, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) during an interview said;
The data shows that remdesivir has a clear-cut, significant, positive effect in diminishing the time to recovery.
He said that although a 31% improvement does not seem like a knockout 100% but it is a very important proof of concept as it has proven that a drug can block the virus.
The new results is contrary to the draft results from the World Health Organisation’s trial accidentally published online last week.
The draft stated that the drug had no benefits during a randomised clinical trial in China.
Read Also: COVID-19: Experimental Drug Remdesivir Failed In First Clinical Trial – Report Say
Gilead Sciences originally designed Remdesivir to treat patients with Ebola, but the drug proved ineffective when tested for that purpose.
When tested in animal models of coronavirus infection, however, remdesivir showed efficacy in treating both severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).
When SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) emerged, scientists found the virus stopped replicating in a lab dish when exposed to the drug.
Remdesivir also prevented the virus from infecting human cells in a petri dish.
