Gilead Sciences experimental drug is reportedly showing promise for treatment of the coronavirus.

The University of Chicago Medicine Hospital reports that patients with COVID-19 treated with Gilead Sciences’ experimental antiviral drug, Remdesivir, in a clinical trial showed “rapid recovery in fever and respiratory symptoms with nearly all patients discharged in less than a week”, medical site STAT reported.

The University of Chicago Medicine recruited 125 people with COVID-19 into Gilead’s two Phase 3 clinical trials. Of those people, 113 had severe disease. All the patients have been treated with daily infusions of Remdesivir. 

“The best news is that most of our patients have already been discharged, which is great. We’ve only had two patients perish,” said Kathleen Mullane, the University of Chicago infectious disease specialist overseeing the remdesivir studies for the hospital. She added: “Most of our patients are severe and most of them are leaving at six days, so that tells us duration of therapy doesn’t have to be 10 days. We have very few that went out to 10 days, maybe three,” she said.

Patients rush to join studies of remdesivir drug

But Gilead Sciences urged caution on drawing conclusions from the report. Gilead said the totality of the data from the trial needed to be analyzed, and expects to report results from a study in severe COVID-19 patients at the end of the month, and data from other trials in May.

“The entire world has been waiting for results from Gilead’s clinical trials, and positive results would likely lead to fast approvals by the Food and Drug Administration and other regulatory agencies,” STAT reported. “If safe and effective, it could become the first approved treatment against the disease.”

Currently, there is no FDA approved treatments or vaccines for the coronavirus.

REMDESIVIR IS AN INVESTIGATIONAL PRODUCT AND HAS NOT BEEN APPROVED ANYWHERE GLOBALLY. THE SAFETY AND EFFICACY OF REMDESIVIR FOR ANY USE HAVE NOT BEEN DETERMINED.

References:

1. https://www.statnews.com/2020/04/16/early-peek-at-data-on-gilead-coronavirus-drug-suggests-patients-are-responding-to-treatment/
2. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-gilead-sciences-stocks-idUSKBN21Z25V
3. https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/04/17/remdesivir-coronavirus-drug-gilead-sciences-covid-19-treatment/5150793002/