One of the few drugs that gives hope for the dangerous coronavirus is the test drug Remdesivir, which was actually developed to combat the Ebola pathogen. Now, however, Remdesivir is becoming a corona hope drug. Because it received special approval in the USA and can now also be used officially in the fight against the corona virus.
Now the antiviral remdesivir has received special approval for the treatment of patients suffering from the coronavirus practically in a rush procedure. The drug agency FDA issued an emergency approval for the drug on Friday. This exemption came in the light of the light of the coronavirus pandemic, FDA chief Stephen Hahn (60) said at a press conference on Friday at the White House. President Donald Trump (73) also described the drug as “very promising”. A clinical study showed that remdesivir can reduce the time between infection and recovery by several days.
The biotech company Gilead, the manufacturer of the drug, now plans to donate 1.5 million doses of remdesivir, according to its chief Daniel O’Day, which should be sufficient to treat 100,000 patients. Depending on the severity of the disease, the patient should be given the remedy for 5 to 10 days. So far, remdesivir has not been approved as a drug in any country in the world. The special permit for the USA that has now been issued does not yet correspond to any formal approval, since this is a much more complex process. However, issuing a limited exemption after just a promising clinical trial is unusual.
There is still no vaccination against the coronavirus. Doctors worldwide are also looking for reliable, drug therapy. The National Institute for Infectious Diseases (NIAID) announced on Wednesday that remdesivir had significantly shortened the duration of treatment as part of a clinical trial. Director Anthony Fauci (79), who also acts as an advisor to US President Donald Trump, spoke of a “significant positive effect in reducing the time to recovery”. The independent review of the study is still pending. In addition, Fauci indicated that the drug had only slightly reduced the patient’s mortality rate.
Many experts consider the results of the US study to be reliable. According to the experts, enough patients were examined in the study. And the result of the treatment was an earlier discharge from the hospital, said Clemens Wendtner from Munich Clinic Schwabing later this week. “This means that essential endpoints of the study have been reached, so that in my opinion there should be little doubt about the rapid approval of the substance.” Previously, remdesivir had shown its effectiveness in laboratory tests. In animal experiments, it has also been successfully used in other coronavirus infections such as SARS and MERS.
