A new study has claimed that remdesivir may work in treating coronavirus, despite previous research saying it had no impact on death rates from the disease.
A single-patient study conducted by Cambridge University and published in the journal Nature Communications describes how doctors who gave the drug to a patient with both COVID-19 and a rare immune disorder saw a marked improvement in his symptoms and the disappearance of the virus.
“Our patient’s unusual condition gave us a rare insight into the effectiveness of remdesivir as a treatment for coronavirus infection,” said Nicholas Matheson, who co-led the study at Cambridge University’s Institute of Therapeutic Immunology and Infectious Disease.
“The dramatic response to the drug – on repeated challenge – suggests that it can be a highly effective treatment, at least for some patients.”
Since early in the coronavirus pandemic, scientists had hoped that Gilead’s antiviral drug remdesivir, which was originally developed to treat hepatitis C and subsequently tested against Ebola, might prove effective against COVID-19.
It was even praised by Donald Trump, who received the drug when he caught the virus.
But the drug’s effectiveness against the pandemic disease has been hotly disputed since a large World Health Organization-led trial found in October that it failed to improve COVID-19 survival rates.
