COVID-19 patients who were hospitalized and received the antiviral drug remdesivir, which is developed by Gilead Sciences, have been found to recover faster than those who received a placebo, according to a study.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), said remdesivir “will be the standard care” for COVID-10 patients.
The study, sponsored by NIAID, enrolled more than 1,000 patients, which started in February.
The findings, discussed during a press conference at the White House, have shown that that the time to recovery from the illness was 31 percent faster for patients who were given remdesivir than for those who received a placebo.
It took an average of 11 days for COVID-19 patients to recover from the illness after taking remdesivir, while those who were given a placebo recovered within 15 days.
The findings also suggested that the group who received remdesivir had a mortality rate of 8 percent, while those who received placebo had a mortality rate of nearly 12 percent.
“The data are being released after an interim review by the independent data safety monitoring board found significant benefit with the drug,” Dr. Fauci said.
He continued, “The reason we are making the announcement now is something that people don’t fully appreciate: Whenever you have clear-cut evidence that a drug works, you have an ethical obligation to let the people in the placebo group know so they could have access.”
“When I was looking at the data with our team the other night, it was reminiscent of 34 years ago in 1986 when we were struggling for drugs for HIV,” Dr. Fauci said, who also played a key role in HIV/AIDS research.
“We did the first randomized, placebo-controlled trial with AZT,” he added. “It turned out to have an effect that was modest but that was not the endgame because building on that, every year after, we did better and better.”
Dr. Fauci said, “Similarly, new trials of drugs for COVID-19 will build on remdesivir, with other agents being added to block other pathways or viral enzymes.” The study is expected to be submitted to a peer-review journal, but the New York Times reported that the FDA will approve the drug for emergency use, according to Dr. Fauci.
