The American Institutes of Health (NIH) announced on Wednesday April 29 that the experimental antiviral drug remdesivir from the Gilead laboratory is helping hospitalized Covid-19 patients recover faster, according to preliminary results of a large placebo-controlled clinical trial including a thousand patients.

"The data show that remdesivir has a clear, significant and positive effect on reducing recovery time" for patients with the new coronavirus Sars-Cov-2, said Anthony Fauci, director of the Institute of Infectious Diseases, in the Office oval of the White House.

"This is a very important proof of concept because it proves that we can block the virus," said the senior scientist.

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Compared to patients who received a placebo, patients treated with remdesivir, a drug developed for Ebola but which has never been approved for any disease, recovered in 11 days - the median time - instead of 15 days, a detailed an NIH press release. Recovery time, i.e. discharge from hospital or return to normal activities, was shortened by an average of 31%, according to the institutes.

Largest study on remdesivir 

However, the preliminary results do not show whether the drug saves lives. However, the mortality of the group of patients treated with the antiviral drug was still 8%, compared with 11.6% in the control group. 

The trial included 1,063 patients with advanced form of Covid-19 and lung problems, at 47 sites in the United States and 21 others in Europe and Asia. This is the largest study on remdesivir for which results are available.

This trial, launched on February 21, is in fact one of the most anticipated, with the European Discovery trial, the results of which are still awaited. 

Chinese study deemed "inadequate"

Remdesivir was the subject of a smaller study (237 patients) also conducted in comparison with a placebo in ten hospitals in Wuhan, China, and which was published Wednesday by the medical journal The Lancet.

In this Chinese trial, patients treated with the antiviral drug did not do better than those treated with placebo.

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But the size of the trial, interrupted for lack of patients because the epidemic stopped in Wuhan, limits the interpretation of the results. The American Anthony Fauci judged him the Chinese study "not adequate".

Multiple trials are underway around the world to test remdesivir, other antivirals or even hydroxychloroquine, an old malaria drug praised by French professor Didier Raoult.

Hospitals have been experimenting with these drugs on their patients since the start of the pandemic, but it is difficult to determine their real effectiveness in the absence of rigorous trials, following comparable protocols, ideally against a placebo.

With AFP

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