The World Health Organization issued a statement on the 20th that no matter how serious the condition of patients with the novel coronavirus is, the antiviral drug remdesivir is not recommended for treatment, because there is no evidence that the drug can improve patient survival or reduce the patient’s demand for ventilators. Wait.
The statement said that a WHO guidance development team composed of international experts published an article in the British Medical Journal on the 20th that remdesivir is increasingly being used to treat hospitalized patients with COVID-19, but its role in clinical practice is still unclear.
The expert group reached the above conclusions after evaluating and comparing the efficacy of several COVID-19 drugs. The evaluation covered four international randomized trials involving data from more than 7,000 patients hospitalized with COVID-19.
The expert group notes that although remdesivir has not been found to be completely useless so far, the available data do not prove that the drug can significantly improve the therapeutic effect of patients. In view of the possible serious side effects of remdesivir and its high cost and resource consumption, the expert group decided not to recommend the drug, but also supported the continuation of the remdesivir evaluation with a view to providing conclusive evidence for the use of the drug in specific patient groups.
Redesivir is an antiviral drug developed by Gilead Technology Company in the United States. It was originally used to treat diseases such as Ebola hemorrhagic fever and Middle East respiratory syndrome.
In October, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved remdesivir for hospitalization of adults with COVID-19 and children over 12 years old weighing more than 40 kilograms, making it the first drug approved by the U.S. Drug Administration to treat the novel coronavirus.
