Donald Trump says the FDA has approved Gilead’s remdesivir drug for emergency use to treat patients of coronavirus.
Previously, Dr. Anthony Fauci said he expects the FDA to issue an emergency-use authorization for possible Covid-19 treatment remdesivir soon.
Gilead’s remdesivir trial results were fruitful
Gilead found that earlier treatment and trials appeared to have better outcomes: “These data are encouraging as they indicate that patients who received a shorter, 5-day course of remdesivir experienced similar clinical improvement as patients who received a 10-day treatment course,” said Aruna Subramanian, M.D., clinical professor of medicine and chief, Immunocompromised Host Infectious Diseases, Stanford University School of Medicine, and one of the lead investigators of the study.
“While additional data are still needed, these results help to bring a clearer understanding of how treatment with remdesivir may be optimized, if proven safe and effective.”
Gilead acknowledges the complexities of assessing this med itself, with its Chief Scientific Officer Merdad Parsey, M.D., Ph.D., saying: “Unlike traditional drug development, we are attempting to evaluate an investigational agent alongside an evolving global pandemic. Multiple concurrent studies are helping inform whether remdesivir is a safe and effective treatment for COVID-19 and how to best utilize the drug.”
But he said results from this test “will help to determine the optimal duration of treatment with remdesivir.”
About Remdesivir
Remdesivir is an investigational antiviral compound undergoing clinical trials in a number of countries as a potential treatment for COVID-19.
- Remdesivir has been approved by FDA for emergency use to treat coronavirus.
- Remdesivir has demonstrated in vitro and in vivo activity in animal models against the viral pathogens that cause MERS and SARS, which are coronaviruses structurally similar to SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
- Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) was first identified in the city of Wuhan, in China’s Hubei province, in December 2019. On February 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) renamed the disease caused by the virus as COVID-19.
Gilead shares were still down 4% in trading Friday. The stock however reported 21% gains since the start of the year 2020.
