Clinical trial shows remdesivir accelerates recovery from advanced COVID-19 patients

Hospitalized patients with advanced COVID-19 and lung involvement who received remdesivir recovered faster than similar patients who received placebo, according to a release from the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) on Wednesday.

The result came out of preliminary data analysis from a randomized, controlled trial involving 1,063 patients, which began on Feb. 21.

Preliminary results indicated that patients who received remdesivir had a 31 percent faster time to recovery than those who received placebo, according to the release.

Specifically, the median time to recovery was 11 days for patients treated with remdesivir compared with 15 days for those who received placebo.

Results also suggested a survival benefit, with a mortality rate of 8 percent for the group receiving remdesivir versus 11.6 percent for the placebo group.

The first participant in the trial was an American who was repatriated after being quarantined on the Diamond Princess cruise ship that docked in Yokohama, Japan.

The patient volunteered to participate in the study at the first study site, the University of Nebraska Medical Center, in February 2020, according to the NIAID.