Washington (AFP)
The American laboratory Gilead announced Wednesday that its drug remdesivir had shown "positive" results in patients of Covid-19 in the framework of a clinical trial against placebo, much awaited and carried out in partnership with the American Institutes of Health (NIH ).
"Gilead Sciences is aware of positive data from a study by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases on its antiviral drug remdesivir for the treatment of Covid-19," the company said, without providing further details. 'immediate.
The NIH then told AFP that an "announcement" would be made on Wednesday, probably during the daily briefing on the coronavirus at the White House.
The large clinical trial in question compares remdesivir to a placebo, and was to involve 800 Covid-19 patients in the United States.
Many clinical trials are underway around the world to find an effective treatment for Covid-19. Remdesivir, a drug initially developed against Ebola but never approved for any disease, is one of the avenues, alongside other antivirals or even hydroxychloroquine.
The NIH trial was launched on February 21.
The results of another clinical trial on remdesivir, smaller (237 patients) and conducted in China, were prematurely published on the WHO website last Friday, but showed that the drug had not shown to improve the condition of patients. This study has not yet been published by a medical journal.
Gilead also released results of a clinical trial called SIMPLE in the United States, Asia and Europe on Wednesday to compare two different doses of remdesivir. According to these results, a five-day treatment improved the clinical condition of the patients in the same way as a ten-day treatment.
© 2020 AFP