Remdesivir Approved to Treat COVID-19 Patients
The U.S. Federal Drug Administration (FDA) has granted emergency approval of a drug called remdesivir to treat the most severely ill COVID-19 patients.
The FDA approval states the drug may be used for both adults and children with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 diagnoses who have low blood oxygen levels or who may be on a ventilator.
This comes after two studies showed patients who received remdesivir recovered faster than those who received a placebo. Preliminary data showed recovery time was 11 days on remdesivir, compared to 15 days for a placebo.
The mortality rate for the remdesivir group was 8%, compared to 11.6% for the placebo group. However, the difference is not considered statistically significant.
In a third trial conducted in China, remdesivir didn’t have a significant effect on recovery time.
Remdesivir is an antiviral that was initially used to treat Ebola, but was unsuccessful. In 2017, it showed promise in test tube and animal studies in stopping the coronaviruses that cause SARS and MERS.
Dr. Jennifer Binning, Virologist
“Remdesivir is a nucleotide analog, which means that it looks very similar to one of the building blocks of our DNA called adenosine,” said Dr. Jennifer Binning, a virologist at Moffitt Cancer Center. “Due to this similarity, remdesivir is used in place of adenosine during viral replication, preventing the virus from making copies of its genetic material.”
While more research is needed to determine exactly why remdesivir is helping patients recover quicker, it could be related to immune response.
“One hypothesis is that by crippling the virus with remdesivir, our immune system can dial down the magnitude of the immune response and in doing so protect patients from both the virus and their own immune system,” said Binning, “However, more work is needed to fully understand how remdesivir is working and which patients will benefit from this treatment.”
The FDA’s emergency use approval will increase access by allowing doctors to prescribe remdesivir to patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Ongoing clinical trials will determine which patients will benefit most from the drug.
