The Hague (AFP)
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommended Thursday the authorization of a "conditional marketing" of the antiviral remdesivir within the European Union for the patients affected by the new coronavirus.
"Remdesivir is the first Covid-19 drug to be recommended for authorization in the EU," the Amsterdam-based agency said in a statement, adding that the recommendation must now be approved or not by the European Commission.
The European Commission "aims to make a decision on the conditional marketing authorization for remdesivir in the coming week," said the EMA.
The agency's recommendation concerns the treatment of the new coronavirus in adults and adolescents from 12 years of age, suffering from pneumonia and needing additional oxygen, ie those "suffering from a serious illness".
An EMA study found that patients with Covid-19 treated with remdesivir recovered on average four days faster than other patients.
Originally developed for Ebola haemorrhagic fever, remdesivir from the American laboratory Gilead is the first therapy to have demonstrated some efficacy in patients hospitalized for Covid-19 in a clinical trial of significant size, even if the effect is considered to be modest. .
The emergency use of remdesivir in hospitals has been authorized by the United States, then by Japan.
© 2020 AFP