FDA grants emergency approval for remdesivir to treat coronavirus patients
Dr. Barry Zingman, from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, on the 'compelling' test results using remdesivir to treat COVID-19.
Japan has started treating patients severely sickened by the novel coronavirus with remdesivir, the drug which Dr. Anthony Fauci said has had “modest” success in shortening recovery time for patients in the U.S. A health ministry official said the country has been working with California-based Gilead Sciences Inc. and was distributed to hospitals beginning on May 11, Reuters reported.
Japan had granted emergency approval for use of the drug about a week after the U.S. did the same. It is the only treatment approved for use in COVID-19 patients in Japan, which has seen at least 16,000 cases of the virus and nearly 700 deaths.
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Remdesivir, an antiviral medication, did not prove successful in treating Ebola patients but saw coronavirus patients’ recovery time improve by 31 percent in a trial led by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease. In the U.S. study, patients who qualified for the drug had to be on mechanical ventilation or supplemental oxygen.
Researchers are also exploring the possibility of combining it with other drugs to fight off COVID-19.
“This is not a knockout punch,” Fauci has said. “This is not a cure.”
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The drug, which is administered intravenously, interferes with the virus’ ability to reproduce. Gilead said it aims to have 500,000 treatment courses available by October, and more than 1 million by December. It has already donated 140,000 doses of the treatment.
Japanese Health Ministry Official Yasuyuki Sahara said the amount of the treatment given to the country was not public information, Reuters reported. In the U.S., the Trump administration said states will determine which hospitals receive the treatment and that Dr. Deborah Birx would help coordinate.
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Two other Japanese medicines are being investigated as possible treatments, including antiviral Avigan and Camostat, a pancreatitis drug.