Gilead touts new data on Veklury in vulnerable populations

Over the weekend, US biotech major Gilead Sciences (Nasdaq: GILD) released positive results from several COVID-19 clinical and real-world evidence studies being presented at the 33rd European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID).

First up, Gilead said that a Phase III clinical study demonstrated that Veklury (remdesivir) was generally well tolerated in people with moderate to severe renal impairment. Additional data includes a retrospective real-world study which demonstrated that Veklury treatment is associated with a lower risk of death from COVID-19 for people living with cancer.

Results from a Phase III, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, multicenter study (REDPINE) evaluated the safety of Veklury in patients with moderately and severely reduced kidney function who were hospitalized for COVID-19, a population with increased COVID-19-related mortality. The trial included 243 hospitalized adult participants with confirmed COVID-19 and renal impairment, including 90 participants (37%) with acute kidney injury (AKI), 64 participants (26%) with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and 89 participants (37%) with end stage kidney disease (ESKD) requiring hemodialysis.