Remdesivir, Hydroxychloroquine did not cut Hospital Stay or Mortality in Covid-19 patients:
Gilead Sciences Inc’s Remdesivir had little or no effect on Covid-19 patients’ length of hospital stay or chances of survival, a clinical trial by the World Health Organization (WHO) has found.
The results are from WHO’s “Solidarity” trial , which evaluated the effects of four potential drug regimens, including –
- Remdesivir
- Hydroxychloroquine
- Anti-HIV drug combination lopinavir/Ritonavir
- Interferon
in 11,266 adult patients across more than 30 countries.
The World Health Organisation announced Friday the long-awaited results of its six-month “Solidarity Therapeutics Trial”.
The study found the regimens appeared to have little or no effect on 28-day mortality or the length of the in-hospital course among patients hospitalized with Covid-19, the WHO said.
Earlier this month, data from a US study of Remdesivir by Gilead showed the treatment cut Covid-19 recovery time by five days compared with patients who got a placebo in a trial comprising 1,062 patients.
WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said on Wednesday that during the study, hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir/ritonavir were stopped in June after they proved ineffective, but other trials continued in more than 500 hospitals and 30 countries.
“We’re looking at what’s next. We’re looking at monoclonal anti-bodies, we’re looking at immunomodulators and some of the newer anti-viral drugs that have been developed in the last few months,” Swaminathan said.
Remdesivir received emergency use authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration on May 1, and has since been authorized for use in several countries.
European Medicines Agency is now reviewing whether Remdesivir is causing kidney problems as reported by some patients.
Martin Landray, a professor of medicine and epidemiology at Oxford University told “The big story is the finding that Remdesivir produces no meaningful impact on survival,”
Noting its high costs he also said “Covid affects millions of people and their families around the world. We need scalable, affordable, and equitable treatments,”
Read more-“Million Dollar Placebos”
