In a recent comparative study, remdesivir treatment was linked with greater recovery rates and 62% decreased odds of death when compared to standard-of-care therapy (without remdesivir) in adults with severe COVID 19.

Utilizing the data from phase III remdesivir trial (GS-US-540–5773) and a retrospective cohort study of people suffering from severe coronavirus infection and treated with standard of care (GS-US-540–5807), Susan A Olender et al. performed this study to compare the efficacy of remdesivir for COVID-19 management.

For evaluating the therapeutic effect of remdesivir vs standard of care, a stabilized inverse probability of treatment weighted multivariable logistic regression was utilized. Mortality was the secondary outcome ascertained while the percentage of people with recovery on day 14, dichotomized from a seven-point clinical status ordinal scale was the major outcome ascertained.

Following inverse probability of treatment weighting procedure, 312 participants were included in the remdesivir group and 818 participants were included in the non-remdesivir group. On day 14, a greater percentage of people recovered in the remdesivir-cohort when compared to non-remdesivir-cohort. In the non-remdesivir-cohort, a higher proportion of people died, as shown in Table 1:

Thus, the antiviral agent remdesivir is highly efficacious to manage patients infected with COVID-19.