Geneva: On Friday, The World Health Organization (WHO) advised that the antiviral drug remdesivir should not be utilized to treat COVID-19 patients regardless of how sick they are as there is no proof it works.
Xinhua news agency quoted the WHO’s Guideline Development Group (GDG) panel as saying in a statement: “The panel noticed a lack of evidence that remdesivir improved outcomes that matter to patients such as the need for mechanical ventilation, reduced mortality, time to clinical improvement, and others.”
The panel added that any beneficial effects of remdesivir, if they do exist, are likely to be small and the possibility of important harm remains.
The WHO recommendation, issued in the British Medical Journal, was based on a proof review that included information from four international randomized trails among more than 7,000 hospitalized patients.
Subsequent to evaluating the evidence, the panel decided that remdesivir has no significant effect on death rates or other important results for patients.
It said that especially given the costs and resource implications associated with remdesivir… The panel felt the responsibility should be on demonstrating evidence of efficacy, which is not established by the currently available data.
The antiviral is one of only two medicines right now authorized to treat COVID-19 patients over the world.
It has been authorized for utilization in the US, the European Union and different countries after initial research discovered it might shorten recuperation time in some COVID-19 patients.
Made by the US organization Gilead, remdesivir is very expensive and must be given intravenously.
Gilead revealed last month that the medication had boosted third-quarter sales by about $900 million.
The WHO’s advice comes as the total number of worldwide COVID-19 cases has topped 56.8 million, while the deaths have increased to more than 1.35 million, as indicated by the Johns Hopkins University.
In its most recent update on Friday, the University’s Centre for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) uncovered that the current worldwide caseload and death count remained at 56,817,667 and 1,358,489, respectively.
The US has been hit the worst by COVID-19 with the world’s most number of cases and deaths at 11,710,084 and 252,484, respectively, as indicated by the CSSE.
source: with input from ians
