The U.S. Food and Commodity Authority (FDA) has approved the treatment of corona patients with the drug remdesivir, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday. The permission was granted via an emergency route.
Remdesivir is made by the pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences. The approval allows the antiviral to be used in patients in the United States.
The antiviral was originally developed against Ebola, but was not really effective against it.
Researchers hoped it would work against the corona virus. The drug has so far had positive results in several studies.
Gilead: Medium works at an early stage
According to Gilead, the drug appears to be particularly effective when given early to corona patients.
In the final phase of the study, remdesivir was tested on patients who were already seriously ill and patients who were early in the infection.
First million tubes donated
Gilead CEO Daniel O’Day called approval an important first step. The company will donate the first 1.5 million tubes of the drug, he said during a conversation with Trump on Friday.
In addition to the clinical study in the United States, a similar trial is underway in China. The drug is also being investigated by the French National Health Research Institute (INSERM).
Remdesivir attacks the mechanism by which some viruses, including the COVID-19 virus, make copies of themselves and overwhelm the immune system.
Shares plummeted after results in China
However, there are also doubts about the effectiveness of the drug. A few days ago, Gilead’s shares plummeted, when corona patients in China failed to get better from the drug in a test.
In these patients, the amount of virus in the body did not decrease either, according to a leaked concept publication by the World Health Organization WHO about that test.
Gilead said the studies do show positive results overall. In particular in patients at an early stage of the disease. The investigation in China would not be representative, because it was canceled early.
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