BREAKING: Early trial results from testing of Gilead’s Remdesivir show the ebola drug to be effective in treating coronavirus patients in Chicago hospital

On March 23, the CDC issued clinical guidance on remdesivir as a therapeutic treatment for COVID-19 patients. Almost a month later, there is new report that Gilead drug is showing effectiveness in treating coronavirus patients. A new report from STAT News, which first reported the news, said that a Chicago hospital treating coronavirus patients with Remdesivir in a trial were recovering rapidly from severe symptoms. The publication cited a video it obtained where the trial results were discussed.

Remdesivir is an ebola drug developed by Gilead Sciences that was found to be ineffective is now being tested in two phase III randomised clinical trials in Asian countries. The trials are being performed on 761 patients in a randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind study at multiple hospitals in Wuhan, the epicentre of the novel coronavirus outbreak. The results from the trials are expected to be available over the next few weeks.

Remdesivir has an antiviral activity that inhibits viral replication through premature termination of RNA transcription and has in-vitro activity against SARS-CoV-2 and in-vitro and in-vivo activity against related betacoronaviruses. In early April, seven clinical trials were initiated to determine whether remdesivir is a safe and effective treatment for COVID-19.

“This is obviously good news. Of course, we’ve heard a few other pieces of good news like this recently and they didn’t pan-out as well as people had hoped,” said Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak, in an email. “The big question is whether it’s going to be enough to help the economy ‘re-open’ more quickly than people are thinking right now.”

Before the trial study, COVID-19 patients in the United States and other countries have been treated with remdesivir on an uncontrolled compassionate use basis. The manufacturer is currently transitioning the provision of emergency access to remdesivir from individual compassionate use requests to an expanded access program.