Drug shows promising signs in COVID-19 patients
A drug developed for Ebola appears to show promising results in patients severely affected by COVID-19, according to preliminary and partial data released by the health journalistic publication STAT.
STAT journalists had access to a video chat between specialists who are supervising part of the study aimed at verifying the potential of remdesivir against COVID-19. This drug was developed in 2015 against Ebola by the American company Gilead. However, the studies had not been completed because the epidemic had run out of steam. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, remdesivir has been one of the most hopeful drugs.
The data released by STAT relate to 125 patients recruited by the University of Chicago for a study. Of the lot, 113 were “severely” affected. However, after being treated with remdesivir daily, most of them are said to have been discharged from hospital. Scientists say the drug appears to quickly bring down fever and respiratory symptoms.
“The best news is that most of our patients have left the hospital, which is great. Only two patients died, ”said Kathleen Mullane of the University of Chicago in comments reported by STAT and held during videoconference with colleagues.
If they are encouraging, these results should however be taken with caveats. They relate only to a portion of the remdesivir study, which includes a total of 2,400 patients with severely COVID-19 at 152 different sites. No comparison with a placebo group is offered, which also complicates the analysis. Note that Gilead is also testing its drug on 1600 patients who experience moderate effects of COVID-19.
“All we can say for the moment is that we are anxious that the data from the studies in progress will be available”, was content to comment on the Gilead company at STAT .
Last week, a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine and conducted on a small cohort of patients (53) had shown that remdesivir had improved the lot of 68% of them. Again, no placebo arm allowed comparison. Two studies in China on the same drug had to be discontinued due to the lack of new patients.
