Despite the other important events that are playing out on both a local and national stage, it’s important to remember that COVID-19 is still a major issue in the US and across the globe. Teams of medical researchers are burning the midnight oil in hopes of finding successful treatment and vaccine options, and every day we get closer to new solutions.
Recently, I read a study on the the medication remdesivir, and it gives me hope that patients who contract the virus may have a quicker road to recovery. It is not a perfect solution and many studies still need to be conducted, but this first study is promising.
Remdesivir Study
More than 1,000 patients were involved in the random study on remdesivir. All patients had contracted the virus and had evidence of a lower respiratory tract infection. Patients were separated into one of two groups. The first group received remdesivir, and the second group received a placebo. Outcomes were then tracked for both groups. Here’s a look at some of the data researchers uncovered.
- Patients in the remdesivir group had a median recovery time of 11 days. Those in the placebo group had a median recovery time of 15 days.
- KaplanMeier mortality estimates by 14 days were 7.1 percent in the remdesivir group and 11.9 percent in the placebo group.
- Serious adverse events were reported for 114 of the 541 patients in the remdesivir group (21.1.%) and 141 of the 522 patients in the placebo group (27.0%).
Researchers concluded that remdesivir was superior to placebo in shortening the time to recovery in adults hospitalized with COVID-19 and with evidence of a lower respiratory tract infection.
Now, this doesn’t mean we should automatically assume remdesivir is the perfect solution, but let’s start with the good news. At the outset, it appears promising. Remdesivir offers a shorter recovery time compared to placebo when started early, but the mortality data is still a bit unclear. Trials were stopped because of human rights issues that could occur given the shortened time to recovery. This is actually a step in the right direction though, as now all future studies will be able to study remdesivir compared to other reasonable treatment protocols, not just placebo. It’s a slow process, but we’re continuing to move the needle in the right direction