Kabbas schreef op 23 mei 2020 14:05:
UPDATE 3-NIH trial: Gilead's drug works best in COVID patients on oxygen
01:36 (23/05) - Bron: Reuters
(Recasts, adds Gilead comment)
By Deena Beasley
May 22 (Reuters) - The U.S. National Institutes of Health
(NIH) on Friday said that data from its trial of Gilead Sciences
Inc's remdesivir show that the drug offers the most
benefit for COVID-19 patients who need extra oxygen but do not
require mechanical ventilation.
The peer-reviewed data was published in the New England
Journal of Medicine.
The trial, for which final results are still trickling in,
showed that recovery time for patients given remdesivir was
shortened by four days, or 31%, compared to placebo patients.
The biggest benefit was seen in patients who were sick enough to
need supplemental oxygen, but were not on a ventilator.
The data detailed in the journal is similar to early results
that the NIH released last month from the study, which began in
February with 1,063 participants in 10 countries.
Researchers now calculate that after follow up, 7% of
patients given remdesivir will have died, compared with 12% in
the placebo group, but they said the difference in the death
rate was not significant.
"Our findings highlight the need to identify COVID-19 cases
and start antiviral treatment before the pulmonary disease
progresses to require mechanical ventilation," the researchers
wrote.
They noted that "given high mortality despite the use of
remdesivir," it is likely that the antiviral drug would be more
effective in combination with other treatments for COVID-19, the
respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus.
Gilead said it expects results from its own study of
remdesivir in patients with moderate COVID-19 at the end of this
month.
"We look forward to the initiation of combination studies of
remdesivir to understand whether the addition of other drugs may
enhance patient outcomes," Gilead Chief Medical Officer Merdad
Parsey said in a statement.
The Food and Drug Administration authorized emergency use
of remdesivir on May 1, and Gilead has been supplying the drug
to hospitals as part of a pledge to donate 1.5 million vials -
or enough for at least 140,000 patients.
(Reporting by Manojna Maddipatla in Bengaluru; Editing by
Aditya Soni, Aurora Ellis and Sonya Hepinstall)
((manojna.kalyani@thomsonreuters.com; +91 8061822700;))