I could be mistaken, but, seem to recall reading that Remdesivir, may have been used to treat patients in hospital.. In fact, yes, it was! Used in a "compassionate manner" As you will read below, the drug did not improve the patients condition. In fact patients on it died at a higher rate then while taking a placebo. The trial was stopped.Interesting that the WHO posted details of the drug trials on the site and then removed them.
"A potential antiviral drug for the coronavirus has reportedly failed in its first randomised clinical trial.There had been widespread hope that remdesivir could treat Covid-19.But a Chinese trial showed that the drug had not been successful, according to draft documents accidentally published by the World Health Organization.The drug did not improve patients' condition or reduce the pathogen's presence in the bloodstream, it said.The US firm behind the drug, Gilead Sciences, said the document had mischaracterised the study.
What do we know about the study?News of the failed trial spread after the WHO posted details on its clinical trials database, before it was removed. The WHO has since confirmed the draft report was mistakenly uploaded.It showed that researchers studied 237 patients, administering the drug to 158 and comparing their progress with the remaining 79, who received a placebo.After a month, 13.9% of the patients taking the drug had died compared to 12.8% of those receiving the placebo. The trial was stopped early because of side-effects. (Side effects not mentioned- Was death one of them?)
"Remdesivir was not associated with clinical or virological benefits," the summary states.All three main US stock indexes fell back from gains of over 1% after the news broke over the trial.
Yes, this experimental drug was used in Spain, Italy, Germany and the UK. And elsewhereLink and Link
The trials – one for severely ill patients and the other for moderate cases of COVID-19 – have been fast-tracked and given urgent public health research (UPHR) status by the Chief Medical Office, a process which can shorten the approval time for testing to a matter of hours in some cases.“These clinical trials will help generate important data on the safety and efficacy of the medication in the coming weeks,” said Hilary Hutton-Squire, general manager of Gilead Sciences UK & Ireland.The company started US testing of remdesivir in February, and it is also being studied in two Chinese trials, with great anticipation of the results due in the next few weeks as confirmed cases of coronavirus head towards the one million threshold worldwide.Remdesivir is a nucleotide analogue that disrupts viruses’ RNA genome, and has been in development for a decade. It was originally intended as a treatment for Ebola, before its potential in treating SARS-CoV-2 infections was identified.It has also had preliminary testing in two other coronavirus strains that caused outbreaks – SARS and MERS – which raised confidence that it might have some activity against this type of virus.
The UK trials will run in England and Scotland and be overseen by Dr Andy Ustianowski, an infectious disease consultant based at North Manchester General Hospital.Meanwhile, two further phase 3 trials of the drug have also been launched across hospitals in France, Italy, Spain and Germany, once again following the format of one trial apiece in moderate and severe infections.The trials will each enroll several hundred patients and will investigate a 14-day course of remdesivir, with endpoints including normalisation of fever and increased oxygen saturation in the blood in the trials involving seriously ill patients.
The studies in moderate cases will look at hospital discharge rates within the 14-day follow-up period, among other outcome measures.With a vaccine for COVID-19 still at least 12-18 months away, the race is on to find drug treatments that will save lives in patients who get the virus more severely.
Final link- extensive reading.From earlier