Promising drug for Covid-19 has no benefit, study indicates

Leaked clinical trial data for a potentially promising drug to treat Covid-19 have shown it has no effect on the virus.

Gilead Science’s antiviral medication remdesivir had been touted as a promising treatment for Covid-19. A study of the drug in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) showed that in compassionate-use circumstances for 53 patients, clinical improvements were found in 68% of patients when given remdesivir.

However, in documents accidentally leaked by the World Health Organisation (WHO), remdesivir was found to have no clinical improvements when compared to a standard care approach for Covid-19 patients. The study, which was taking place in China, involved 237 patients, 158 of whom were administered remdesivir, with the remaining patients given a placebo.

The trial was stopped early in a number of patients due to adverse effects. Adverse effects were reported in 18 patients being given remdesivir, compared to four patients in the control group. More so, 13.9% of patients receiving the drug had died, compared to 12.8% of the control group.

Though data from the trial indicates that remdesivir has no clinical improvements for treating Covid-19, Gilead states that the leaked post by WHO “included inappropriate characterisations of the study.”

In a statement by Gilead Sciences, the company disputes that “the study was terminated early due low enrolment, and, as a result, it was underpowered to enable statistically meaningful conclusions.”

“As such, the study results are inconclusive, though trends in the data suggest a potential benefit for remdesivir, particularly among patients treated early in disease,” the statement continues.

Gilead Sciences also referenced the growing body of evidence still being generated for remdesivir, that gives the drug potential for still being used in treating Covid-19.

The company expects to share results from another two studies of remdesivir in patients with severe and moderate Covid-19 at the end April and May respectively.