Skip to main content

New story in Health from Time: Remdesivir Shows Promising Results as a Coronavirus Treatment, According to Drug Manufacturer Gilead



Gilead, a California-based biopharmaceutical company, released two encouraging reports about remdesivir, an experimental drug that is being tested as a COVID-19 treatment.

In one statement, the company said that a large study of remdesivir “met its primary endpoint”: meaning, in this case, that the researchers have concluded that hospitalized patients taking the drug appear to improve faster than patients given a placebo. The study is run by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health and involves severe patients at multiple centers across the country. Gilead has yet to release specific data from the study but noted in its release that NIAID is expected to provide more detailed results.

In another statement, the company released results from one of its two ongoing “SIMPLE” trials. One of these studies is designed to test remdesivir in people with moderate disease, and the other in those with more severe disease. Both compare a five day regimen to a 10 day regimen and do not include a placebo control. The company reported on the study involving nearly 400 people with severe COVID-19, who all had pneumonia and reduced oxygen levels but did not yet need to rely on a ventilator to breathe. In the study, the five-day regimen was deemed as effective as the 10 day protocol: after 14 days, 60% of those taking the drug for five days and 52% of those taking the drug for 10 days were discharged from the hospital.

The results add to the growing body of data suggesting remdesivir may be effective for treating COVID-19. Remdesivir was originally designed to treat Ebola, but studies in the lab showed it also acted against coronaviruses like SARS and MERS, so researchers began exploring its potential for treating COVID-19 when the pandemic began. It works by interfering with the virus’ ability to make more copies of itself.

No drug is currently approved to treat COVID-19, and ongoing studies are designed to test the effectiveness of promising candidates, like remdesivir, as well as their safety. Early hints of experimental drug’s potential benefit were leaked in April from a presentation by University of Chicago researchers; in that study, those assigned to receive remdesivir improved more quickly and were discharged from the hospital earlier than those getting placebo.

Another study conducted by Chinese researchers during the early days of the pandemic, however, showed that those taking remdesivir for up to 10 days did not show any quicker improvement than those randomly assigned to placebo. Gilead scientists note, though, that the study in China was suspended because the investigators could not enroll the intended number of patients with severe disease, suggesting the results may not be statistically significant. The Chinese researchers noted that they did see promising signs that people treated within 10 days of their first symptoms seemed to improve faster than those who began treatment 10 days after they experienced their first symptoms, a trend also found in the SIMPLE study.

While the current results are promising, until the complete data from the NIH study, as well as others that are ongoing around the world, are available, it remains unclear exactly what improvements remdesivir can provide in treating COVID-19, and which patients would most benefit from taking the drug.

Popular posts from this blog

New story in Health from Time: Here’s How Quickly Coronavirus Is Spreading in Your State

The novel coronavirus pandemic is a global crisis, a national emergency and a local nightmare. But while a great deal of the focus in the U.S. has been on the federal government’s response, widely criticized as slow and halting , the picture on the ground remains very different in different parts of the country. A TIME analysis of the per capita spread of the epidemic in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. found considerable range in the rate of contagion, and, in some parts of the country, a significant disparity compared to the national figure. The U.S., unlike nations such as South Korea and now Italy , has yet to show signs of bringing the runaway spread of the virus under control. However, while no single state is yet showing strong signs of bending the curve , some are faring much worse than others. The following graphic plots the rise in the total confirmed cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 residents in each state, plotted by the day that each state reported its first case....

New video by gymvirtual on YouTube

Rutina para adelgazar | Ejercicios para perder peso en casa ♥ ♥ LÉEME / DESPLIÉGAME ♥ ♥ Hola a todos, hoy os traigo una rutina de cardio de 25 minutos para quemar grasa y adelgazar en casa. En la web https://ift.tt/39VJREp encontraréis los calendarios de entrenamiento tanto para principiantes como para avanzados. Si quieres conseguir tú transformación en solamente 12 semanas, entra ya en http://www.pgv12.com y elige el PLAN PGV12 que más se adapte a ti. Nuestro lema: YO PUEDO CON TODO Los hashtags: #GymVirtual #YPCT #YoPuedoConTodo #PGV12 ♡♡ ¡SUSCRÍBETE! ♡♡ http://www.youtube.com/user/gymvirtual ................................................................................................................................. ♡♡ PLAN DE ENTRENAMIENTO + NUTRICIÓN 12 SEMANAS♡♡ http://www.pgv12.com ................................................................................................................................. ♡♡¡ECHA UN VISTAZO A NUESTRA TIENDA ONLINE! ♡♡ https://ift.tt/2Un...

New story in Health from Time: After Cruise Ships and Nursing Homes, Will Universities Be the Next COVID-19 Tinderboxes?

The fall semester has yet to begin, but student athletes training for the season can already be found on college campuses across the U.S. And so can COVID-19. Since the start of July there have been at least two outbreaks among student athletes, coaches, and staff—with 37 infected at the University of North Carolina (UNC) Chapel Hill and 22 at Boise State . Clusters of infection have been traced to college town bars popular with students. A common misconception is that young people with COVID-19 don’t die and therefore college re-openings pose little risk. Sadly, this isn’t the case. COVID-19 deaths in the young are rare, but they happen. Universities across the U.S. are mourning the loss of students in the lead-up to the school year, including Joshua Bush , a 30-year old nursing student at the University of South Carolina, Trevor Syphus Lee , a 27-year old senior at Utah Valley University, and Juan Garcia , a 21-year old Penn State undergraduate. One might imagine th...