Remdesivir was superior to placebo in shortening the time to recovery in adults hospitalized with Covid-19 and evidence of lower respiratory tract infection.
“Overall, treatment with remdesivir shortened a patient’s time to recovery compared to the placebo group, from an average of 15 days to 11 days. Improvements occurred whether or not the patient was receiving supplemental oxygen. What’s more, the data lays to rest any worries that remdesivir has to be given very early after the onset of symptoms. In fact, those participants who entered the trial more than 10 days after the onset of symptoms actually showed a better response to remdesivir than those who started being treated during the first 10 days of being symptomatic.”
“The trial’s main secondary outcome—how a participant was doing on day 15—also showed that remdesivir was significantly better than placebo. And the total number of deaths was lower in the remdesivir group (21 vs 28) at this point, although that difference was not statistically significant. (Medicynical emphasis)”
Medicynical note: A few days benefit of shorter recovery time and slight, not yet significant, improvement in number of deaths. The fact that it took a large study to tease out the benefit is indicative of the drug’s marginal usefulness. But at least it didn’t result in increased deaths…..like hydroxychloroquin.
As noted it is hoped that combination with other agents, anti-inflammatory or antiviral, will have better more dramatic positive outcomes.
Medicynic 