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Remdesivir
could be a potential drug for treating COVID-19 patients as it significantly
reduced disease progression in corona-virus infected rhesus macaques.
According
to the press release from National Institutes of Health, the experimental drug
remdesivir significantly decreased clinical disease and lungs damage in just 12
hours of post-first treatment in coronavirus-infected monkeys.
This
was a small preliminary medical trial, conducted by NIH and needs to be
peer-reviewed. The study simulated the experiment being conducted in humans,
including hospitalized patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 virus or coronavirus
disease. In patients infected with COVID-19, remdesivir works by adding
mutations which finally leads to the destruction of the respiratory virus.
The
trial was conducted on two groups of 6 rhesus macaques who were purposely
infected with SARS-CoV-2 virus. Remdesivir was given to the test group while no
treatment was given to the monkeys in the control group. In the test group, the
first dose of remdesivir was injected intravenously 12 hours post-infection,
and after that every day for the following six days.
The
time to the first treatment was noted just before the virus reached its maximum
concentration in the lungs of monkeys. After 12-hours of the first treatment, a
significant improvement in the symptoms of macaques was observed which
continued to improve over the next week.
Only
one of the six monkeys showed a mild difficulty in breathing at the end of the
test phase compared to all six monkeys in the control or untreated group who
showed difficulty in breathing. As compared to the untreated group, a
significantly lower level of virus and less lung damage was observed in the
test group.
Remdesivir,
an anti-viral drug could become a new promising agent for treating patients
infected with the coronavirus. In humans, clinical trials have already begun.
Also, remdesivir was found to be effective in COVID-19 infected patients
participating in a trial in Chicago, US.
National Institutes of Health
Antiviral remdesivir prevents disease progression in monkeys with COVID-19
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