Early compassionate use data for remdesivir in COVID-19 'encouraging'

US biotech major Gilead Sciences (Nasdaq: GILD) has announced results from a cohort analysis of 53 patients hospitalized with severe complications of COVID-19 who were treated with the investigational antiviral remdesivir on an individual compassionate use basis.

The majority of patients in this international cohort demonstrated clinical improvement and no new safety signals were identified with remdesivir treatment. Compassionate use data have limitations and multiple Phase III studies are ongoing to determine the safety and efficacy of remdesivir for the treatment of COVID-19. The detailed results of this analysis were published April 10 in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Remdesivir is not yet licensed or approved anywhere globally and has not been demonstrated to be safe or effective for the treatment of COVID-19. However, because it had already been tested in patients with Ebola, where it was shown to be safe but ineffective, researchers were able to quickly begin studying it human trials when the Covid-19 pandemic hit.