Can Remdesivir be used to treat COVID-19 (coronavirus)?
Yes, remdesivir (Veklury, GS-5734) can be used to treat COVID-19, Veklury was the first FDA approved treatment for COVID-19 in the United States.
Remdesivir (Veklury) has FDA approval for the treatment of COVID-19 in adults and children from birth with a positive SARS-CoV-2 viral test:
- who weigh at least 1.5 kilograms (about 3.3 pounds) and are
- hospitalized, or
- not hospitalized and have mild-to-moderate COVID-19 and are at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19, including hospitalization or death.
Veklury is contraindicated in patients who are allergic to Veklury or any of its components.
What is Remdesivir?
- Remdesivir is an antiviral drug that blocks an enzyme that the virus uses to make copies of itself, so there is a decrease in the quantity of coronavirus in the body.
- Remdesivir has also been studied in treatment of the viruses that cause MERS, SARS-CoV and Ebola.
How does Remdesivir work on COVID-19?
- For the SARS-CoV-2 virus to make you sick it has to first infect your cells.
- Secondly the virus needs to make a lot of copies of itself, so it can spread around your body which causes the COVID-19 symptoms.
- For the virus to make copies of itself, it needs an enzyme called RdRp (RNA- dependent RNA polymerase) but the Remdesivir stops the RdRp from working properly, so the virus can’t make its copies.
- This stops the virus numbers from increasing and stops the infection getting worse.
What did the Veklury clinical trials show?
ACTT-1 was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial comparing Veklury and placebo treatment for hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
Veklury significantly improved recovery time:
- By five days in the overall study population (10 days vs 15 days).
- By seven days in patients who required oxygen support at baseline (11 days vs 18 days).
The secondary endpoint in the ACTT-1 trial showed Veklury:
- Reduced disease progression in patients needing oxygen, so that less of these patients required to go on to mechanical ventilation or ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) (13% vs 23%).
PINETREE was a Phase 3 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. The trial evaluated the efficacy and safety of a three-day course of Veklury for intravenous (IV) use for the treatment of COVID-19 in non-hospitalized patients at high risk for disease progression.
Veklury significantly reduced the risk of COVID-19 related hospitalization or all-cause death by:
- 87% by Day 28 (Veklury 0.7% vs placebo 5.3%)
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Is Remdesivir an FDA approved COVID-19 medicine?
Yes, remdesivir (Veklury) is an FDA approved medicine for treatment of COVID-19 patients who:
- have had a positive SARS-CoV-2 viral test
- weigh at least 1.5 kilograms (about 3.3 pounds)
- are hospitalized,
- or not hospitalized but have mild-to-moderate COVID-19 and are at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19, including hospitalization or death.
References
- https://www.drugs.com/history/remdesivir.html
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0924857920300832?via%3Dihub
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5567817/
- https://www.nature.com/articles/s41422-020-0282-0
- https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2023/214787s024lbl.pdf
- https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?setid=c0978fa8-53ff-4ca2-82a7-567fd3e958ca#S2.1
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The original Omicron variant, first identified in Botswana and South Africa in late November 2021, is no longer circulating. Other variants may spread worldwide, and new variants may occur over time. Continue reading
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