A clinical trial of the experimental drug remdesivir reportedly indicated promising results as a treatment for patients with severe COVID-19, with most patients, who received the drug, remarkably improving within a week.
Official results for several trials intended to assess the efficacy and safety of the drug have yet to be released. A video from researchers at the University of Chicago suggested that remdesivir could be an effective treatment for the novel coronavirus.
Two-thirds of severely ill coronavirus patients witnessed their condition became easier, according to the study sponsored by its developer Gilead Sciences.
The drug was initially created as a treatment for illnesses including Ebola and has since been detected to have antiviral qualities.
The antiviral drug is currently subjected to testing in several studies across the globe.
Published in the "New England Journal of Medicine," the preliminary results did not have a control group. Thus, more research is crucial to better determine if the drug could help cure infected patients.
Gilead Sciences Inc.'s experimental drug is raising tentative hope to discover the first treatment for the coronavirus.
The study tracked 53 people in the U.S., Europe, and Canada who required respiratory support, with around half treated with mechanical ventilation and four subjected to a heart-lung by-pass machine.
In the closely watched clinical trial, there have been rapid recoveries in fever and respiratory symptoms with almost all patients discharged in less than a week.
The good news sent shares of remdesivir developer Gilead Sciences rising beyond 14 percent in after-hours trading.
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Gilead's stock price jumped from 8.1% to $82.74 at 10:14 AM on Friday.
"The entire world has been waiting for results from Gilead's clinical trials, and positive results would likely lead to fast approvals by the Food and Drug Administration and other regulatory agencies," according to a news outlet "STAT."
Analysts caution against underscoring the experimental drug as a silver bullet in tackling the coronavirus.
"We cannot draw definitive conclusions from these data," according to Jonathan Grein, director of hospital epidemiology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles, and the lead author on the study. "But the observations from this group of hospitalised patients who received remdesivir are hopeful."
The data revealed that 68% of 53 admitted patients showed clinical improvement upon taking remdesivir, making it 36 out of the 53.
In mid-May, analysts recommended that remdesivir could gain authorization as a coronavirus treatment.
Data gleaned from compassionate-use programs are limited, Gilead Chief Executive Daniel O'Day warned in an open letter. Also, the patients were not enrolled in a clinical study that utilizes a placebo or another drug for comparison.
Patients from the U.S., France, Italy, Spain, Austria, the Netherlands, Germany, Canada, and Japan received the drug intravenously in a span of 10 days.
Meanwhile, the University of Chicago recruited 125 coronavirus patients for a clinical trial by Gilead Sciences, with 113 among them who had severe illness. A video showed infectious disease specialist Dr. Kathleen Mullane discussing positive early results from the trial with university colleagues.
Most of their patients were discharged, with only two patients who perished.
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