Hundreds of coronavirus patients recover after taking Ebola drug in groundbreaking trial
G2G Good to Great
2020-04-17
Views 377
Hundreds of patients taking experimental drug remdesivir have recovered from the coronavirus.
The anti-viral medication – initially designed to combat Ebola – is being tested across the world in the fight against Covid-19, and is part of the World Health Organisation’s Solidarity Trial.
Doctors at The University of Chicago Medicine have recently recorded incredible results.
Nearly all patients with fever and respiratory issues were discharged in just days after taking part in the study.
The university recruited 125 patients into Gilead Science’s two Phase 3 clinical trials.
113 of them were discharged from hospital and two died.
Dr Kathleen Mullane, the infectious disease expert who is leading the trial, said: "The best news is that most of our patients have already been discharged, which is great.
“We've only had two patients perish.
“Most of our patients are severe and most of them are leaving at six days, so that tells us the duration of therapy doesn’t have to be 10 days.
“We have very few that went out to 10 days, maybe three."
But she added ”the totality of the data needs to be analysed in order to draw any conclusions from the trial”.
Dr Mullan’s comments were made this week during a video call about the results with other University of Chicago members.
The conversation was recorded and STAT News obtained a copy of the footage.
Gilead said in a statement: ”What we can say at this stage is that we look forward to data from ongoing studies becoming available."
Last month, US President Donald Trump touted remdesvir’s potential, saying it “seems to have a very good result”.
Anti-arthritis drug Tocilizumab, currently being trialled in the UK, has also seemingly cured a raft of Covid-19 patients in China and Italy.
It is also referred to as Actemra and produced by the Swiss pharmaceutical firm Roche.
During a groundbreaking study in China in February, it reportedly helped 90% of coronavirus patients recover .
Hospitals in Italy have also enjoyed success with the drug , with dozens of patients witnessing improvements and some even being discharged.
The anti-viral medication – initially designed to combat Ebola – is being tested across the world in the fight against Covid-19, and is part of the World Health Organisation’s Solidarity Trial.
Doctors at The University of Chicago Medicine have recently recorded incredible results.
Nearly all patients with fever and respiratory issues were discharged in just days after taking part in the study.
The university recruited 125 patients into Gilead Science’s two Phase 3 clinical trials.
113 of them were discharged from hospital and two died.
Dr Kathleen Mullane, the infectious disease expert who is leading the trial, said: "The best news is that most of our patients have already been discharged, which is great.
“We've only had two patients perish.
“Most of our patients are severe and most of them are leaving at six days, so that tells us the duration of therapy doesn’t have to be 10 days.
“We have very few that went out to 10 days, maybe three."
But she added ”the totality of the data needs to be analysed in order to draw any conclusions from the trial”.
Dr Mullan’s comments were made this week during a video call about the results with other University of Chicago members.
The conversation was recorded and STAT News obtained a copy of the footage.
Gilead said in a statement: ”What we can say at this stage is that we look forward to data from ongoing studies becoming available."
Last month, US President Donald Trump touted remdesvir’s potential, saying it “seems to have a very good result”.
Anti-arthritis drug Tocilizumab, currently being trialled in the UK, has also seemingly cured a raft of Covid-19 patients in China and Italy.
It is also referred to as Actemra and produced by the Swiss pharmaceutical firm Roche.
During a groundbreaking study in China in February, it reportedly helped 90% of coronavirus patients recover .
Hospitals in Italy have also enjoyed success with the drug , with dozens of patients witnessing improvements and some even being discharged.
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