Anti-viral Drug Remdesivir Effective Against Coronavirus, Study

It has been found out that the broad-spectrum investigational antiviral drug remdesivir can speed up recovery in Covid-19 patients and has some clear-cut benefits.

The research was carried out by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Published by medical periodical the New England Journal of Medicine, it says that Remdesivir cuts the recovery time in COVID-19 patients.

The study found that remdesivir, injected intravenously daily for 10 days, accelerated the recovery of hospitalized COVID-19 patients compared to a placebo in clinical tests on just over a thousand patients across 10 countries.

Remdesivir has been found beneficial for the patients requiring oxygen supply. However, about 7.1% of patients given remdesivir in the trial group died within 14 days – compared with 11.9% in the placebo group.

Remdesivir, manufactured by the biopharma company Gilead Sciences Inc., has been previously tested in humans with Ebola virus disease and has shown promise as a drug against Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), both of which, like Covid-19, are caused by coronaviruses.