- The American Institutes of Health has published the results of a large study according to which the antiviral remdesivir accelerates the cure of the patients of the coronavirus.
- Infectious disease specialist Anthony Faucy believes that "this is a very important proof of concept, because it proves that we can block the virus".
- But a second, smaller study found no positive effect in China.
After chloroquine, here is the remdesivir. This antiviral tested against the coronavirus gave encouraging results on the healing time, according to a large clinical trial conducted in several countries. But a second study carried out in China - on a sample four times smaller - did not note any positive effects on the patients. Until European tests play the arbiter, the world stock markets are flying and this drug could be authorized in the United States by the FDA.
What is remdesivir?
It is an antiviral developed by the American laboratory Gilead Sciences. It was developed to fight the Ebola virus but it was never approved because the results of a clinical trial in Africa were not convincing. But after several encouraging tests against the Covid-19, in particular at the Bordeaux University Hospital, several scientific studies have been launched. For treatment, the solution is injected daily intravenously for 10 days. Remdesivir inserts into the genetic material of the coronavirus and short-circuits it to prevent it from replicating.
Recovery time reduced by 31%, says American study
The American Institutes of Health (NIH) has overseen the largest clinical trial to date, which has been conducted on 1,063 patients at 47 sites in the United States and 21 others in Europe and Asia. The recovery time for patients treated with remdesivir was 31% faster than for the placebo group, 11 days versus 15. Recovery is defined as discharge from the hospital or return to normal activities. The statistical reliability of this result is very high.
For mortality, the result is not significant, that is to say that the slight difference in mortality between the two groups may be due to chance. But the remdesivir-treated group suffered 8% mortality compared to 11% in the placebo group, which "suggests" that the drug improves survival.
FDA could give green light to treatment
Anthony Fauci, director of the Institute of Infectious Diseases, told the White House that the initial results were so clear that the people in charge of the trial decided to make them public, so that patients treated with placebo could now have access to remdesivir.
Dr. Anthony Fauci all the results of a trial examining remdesivir, an experimental drug treatment for the novel coronavirus, calling it “good news.”
The trial has not yet been peer-reviewed but is being submitted to a journal for review, Fauci says. https://t.co/D0lCL5DmzI pic.twitter.com/UbFRluhDEi
"This is a very important proof of concept because it proves that we can block the virus," said Anthony Fauci. According to the New York Times , the FDA (Food and Drug administration) should give the green light as of Wednesday so that the remdesivir can be prescribed to the Americans.
No positive effect on sick people, says second study
NEW Research — First randomized trial of #remdesivir for hospitalized patients who are critically ill with # COVID19 suggests antiviral drug is not associated with significant clinical benefits vs placebo: study of 237 adults from 10 hospitals in Wuhan (1/5) https: // t.co/K0h0qj4okw pic.twitter.com/btIH3mTPCg
- The Lancet (@TheLancet) April 29, 2020The enthusiasm was tempered by the publication of a second study in the medical journal Le Lancet . The latter was conducted in ten hospitals in China on only 237 patients. Patients treated with remdesivir did not do better than those treated with placebo.
But the size of the trial, interrupted for lack of patients because the epidemic stopped in Wuhan, limits the interpretation of the results. American Anthony Fauci deemed the Chinese study "not adequate". The results of the European Discovery trial could shed more light on this.
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