“It is a really important proof of concept, because what it is proving is a drug can block this virus.”
A new breakthrough in the treatment of patients with COVID-19 has been given the stamp of approval by Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
The recommendation comes on the heels of two new clinical trials showing positive results for the experimental drug known as Remdesivir.
One trial conducted by the NIAID shows “patients who received Remdesivir had a 31% faster time to recovery than those who received placebo.”
The second, conducted by the company that makes Remdesivir, Gilead Sciences, gave severely ill patients five-day and 10-day treatment courses of the drug. The result: patients who received the five-day dose achieved similar improvement as patients who received the 10-day dose, meaning more people could be treated faster.
Dr. Merdad Parsey of Gilead Sciences says, “This is particularly important in the setting of a pandemic, to help hospitals and health care workers treat more patients in urgent need of care.”
“Whenever you have clear-cut evidence that a drug works, you have an ethical obligation to immediately let the people who are in the placebo group know so that they can have access, and all of the other trials that are taking place now have a new standard of care.”
Standard of care refers to the guidelines for treating a certain illness.
“This has nothing to do with vaccines."
To be clear, this is not a cure. But the bottom line is Remdesivir appears to help patients recover from COVID-19 faster.
Amber Strong, Newsy, in Northern Virginia.
