Gilead Sciences Inc published additional data from the study on antiviral drug remdesivir showing that it improved the recovery of severe coronavirus patients with a lower risk of death.
The company analyzed the data of 312 patients who received treatment at the late-stage study. They were retrospective of 818 cohort participants having the diagnosis, characteristics, and infection severity similar to the data.
The conclusion provided by the study showed that about 74.4% of patients who received remdesivir recovered till day 14 of infection, compared to 59.0% of patients with standard care. Moreover, about 7.6% of patients on remdesivir died and 12.5% of patients with no remdesivir passed away. The risk of death for severe coronavirus patients was reduced by 62% with the antiviral drug remdesivir.
The findings of the study are being presented during the Virtual 23rd International AIDS Conference, in the part of Virtual COVID-19 conference. Although, Gilead commented that the clinical trials will provide further confirmation in the data.
The Chief Medical Officer of Gilead, Dr. Merdad Parsey commented,
“We are working to broaden our understanding of the full utility of remdesivir. To address the urgency of the continued pandemic, we are sharing data with the research community as quickly as possible with the goal of providing transparent and timely updates on the new developments with remdesivir.”
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases showed in their study that patients treated with remdesivir usually have increased chances of recovery than those with regular treatment care. The risk of death in the patients was not significant for the use of remdesivir. Following the findings, the Food and Drug Administration authorized the use of remdesivir for COVID-19 patients.
European Commission and Australia have also approved the use of antiviral remdesivir for the severe coronavirus patients in hospitals in the hope to reduce the number of patients.
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