In a new study, researchers found that anti-viral drug remdesivir could reduce recovery times in coronavirus patients.
The research was conducted by a team at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
Although several drugs have been evaluated for the treatment of COVID-19, none have yet been shown to be efficacious.
In the study, the team tested the effects of remdesivir on over a thousand patients across 10 countries.
These adults were hospitalized with Covid-19 with signs of lower respiratory tract infections.
They found that when remdesivir was injected intravenously daily for 10 days, it could accelerate the recovery of hospitalized COVID-19 patients compared to a placebo.
Those who received remdesivir had a recovery time of about 11 days, while those who received a placebo has a recovery time of 15 days.
In addition, About 7.1% of patients given remdesivir in the trial group died within 14 days—compared with 11.9% in the placebo group.
The findings show that remdesivir was superior to placebo in shortening the time to recovery in adults hospitalized with COVID-19 and that the drug could help lower respiratory tract infection.
The researchers suggest that drug remdesivir could be most beneficial for hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19 who required supplemental oxygen.
But they also warn that the drug cannot prevent all deaths and that treatment with an anti-viral drug alone is not likely to be sufficient.
The lead author of the study is John H. Beigel, M.D.
The study is published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
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