Clinical trial of COVID-19 drug is quite promising, says Fauci [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Dr. Anthony Fauci of the White House coronavirus task force told media on Wednesday that a clinical trial study of the ‘remdesivir’ drug showed good signs, saying that the medicine could serve as a cure for COVID-19.
• Patients treated with the drug healed 31% faster than the patients given a placebo, with 8% mortality rate — directionally lower versus the 11.6% mortality rate of placebo patients.
• Scientists highly expect that remdesivir will be a potential treatment for COVID-19.

Coronavirus task force key member Anthony Fauci told the media in the White House briefing on Wednesday that results from a clinical trial of a potential coronavirus drug showed “quite good news.” Fauci was with President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence when he made the announcement.

The patients treated with the drug, remdesivir, healed 31 percent faster than patients given a placebo, based on the data from an international study of the drug.

“Although a 31 percent improvement doesn’t seem like a knockout 100 percent, it is a very important proof of concept… What it has proven is that a drug can block this virus,” Fauci emphasized. He added that the drug will be “the standard of care.”

Fauci further asserted that the COVID-19 mortality rate needs further research. This came after studies showed that the mortality rate of remdesivir patients, at eight percent, is directionally lower but not statistically significant against the 11.6 percent mortality rate of placebo patients.

The clinical trial which examined the safety and efficacy of remdesivir in 1,063 COVID-19 adult patients started in February. The experimental drug, which was developed by Gilead Sciences, was the first drug that came under trial in the US to assess an experimental medication for the coronavirus.

“We think it’s really opening the door to the fact that we now have the capability of treating [COVID-19],” Fauci said of the results. 

Although the research has not yet been published or peer reviewed, Fauci assured that the trial drug could be further improved as more people, companies and investigators get involved.

On Wednesday, former Food and Drug Administration commissioner Scott Gottlieb told CNBC that the drug is probably not a “home run” cure for COVID-19, but it could prevent people from facing grave danger.

“It’s not going to be a cure, but it is going to be a drug potentially that if you use it particularly early in the course of a disease — you hang it in the emergency room when someone comes in with COVID, especially someone with risk factors that predict they’ll have a worse outcome from the disease — it could reduce their chances of having a really bad outcome,” Gottlieb said.

Scientists have had high expectations of remdesivir as a COVID-19 treatment. The drug was originally made as a potential cure for Ebola, but was found to be ineffective.

Source: The Hill