New York: Remdesivir, the antiviral under clinical trials for treatment against novel coronavirus infection, is superior to the standard of care given to COVID-19 patients, according to a new study.
The analysis, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, is based on data from the Adaptive COVID-19 Treatment Trial (ACTT), sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in the United States.
In the randomised, controlled trial, clinicians enrolled adults hospitalised with COVID-19 who showed infection in the lower respiratory tract and suffered from moderate to severe disease.
The researchers, including those from the New York University, found that remdesivir was most beneficial for hospitalised patients with severe disease requiring supplemental oxygen.
“Preliminary results of this trial suggest that a 10-day course of remdesivir was superior to placebo in the treatment of hospitalized patients with COVID-19,” the scientists wrote in the study. Findings about benefits in other patient subgroups were less conclusive in this analysis, they said.
The study began February 21, 2020 and enrolled 1,063 participants in 10 countries, with patients providing informed consent to participate, the researchers said. They said the patients were randomly assigned to receive local standard care and a 10-day course of the anti-viral remdesivir intravenously, or local standard care and a placebo.
According to the study, the trial was double-blind, meaning neither investigators nor participants knew who was receiving remdesivir or placebo.
The preliminary findings, based on an analysis of 1,059 participants, noted that patients who received remdesivir had a shorter time to recovery than those who received placebo (blood plasma).
“We are awaiting final visits, data entry, monitoring, and data lock for the last of the 1,063 patients enrolled, after which an update of the results will be provided,” the researchers noted in the study.
The study defined recovery as being discharged from the hospital or being medically stable enough to be discharged from the hospital.
The median time for this, the researchers said, was 11 days for patients treated with remdesivir compared with 15 days for those who received placebo.
Agencies