Gilead to trial remdesivir inhaled version

After receiving the green light from the US Food and Drug Administration to move forward, Gilead Sciences (Nasdaq: GILD) is about to start trials of an inhaled version of remdesivir, said the US biotech’s chairman and chief executive Daniel O’Day in an open letter on Monday.

“We will screen healthy volunteers for Phase I trials this week and hope to begin studies in patients with COVID-19 in August. If the trials are successful, this could represent important progress,” noted Mr O’Day, adding: “Remdesivir is now being used to treat patients through emergency use authorizations and other access programs around the world. And yet, we still have some way to go in exploring the full potential of remdesivir to help against COVID-19.”

So far, randomized controlled trials of remdesivir, originally developed to tackle Ebola, have been evaluating its safety and efficacy in hospitalized patients. In the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) study, remdesivir shortened recovery time by an average of four days and in the SIMPLE study of moderately ill patients (those in hospital but not requiring oxygen), individuals on a five-day course of remdesivir had better clinical outcomes than those receiving standard of care.