"Gilead Sciences Inc.'s drug remdesivir significantly reduced hospitalizations in a study of people recently diagnosed with Covid-19 and at high risk of developing severe illness.
The findings reported Wednesday bolster the company's case for expanding use of the drug to treat patients early in the course of their disease.
In a study of 562 patients, there were 0.7% hospitalizations for Covid-19 among subjects who received remdesivir, compared with 5.3% among patients who received placebos. There were no deaths in either group.
The results, published in the peer-reviewed New England Journal of Medicine, confirmed and expanded on high-level results from the study that Gilead disclosed in a news release in September.
Gilead's remdesivir, sold under the brand name Veklury, is a commonly used drug to treat people who are hospitalized with Covid-19, but it isn't currently approved for people with less-severe cases who are recovering at home.
Gilead said in October that it had asked the Food and Drug Administration to expand the drug's approval to nonhospitalized patients, based on the results of the study in recently diagnosed patients.
"In the campaign toward ending the Covid-19 pandemic, these data add yet another option to the armamentarium for the treatment of vulnerable patients who are at high risk for progression to severe Covid-19," the study authors, including several Gilead employees, wrote in the paper.
If remdesivir is cleared for recently diagnosed patients, it is unclear how widely it would be used, given its limitations compared with other treatments.
Remdesivir requires intravenous infusion administered by a healthcare professional over the course of three days. On Wednesday, the FDA authorized a pill made by Pfizer Inc. that is more convenient, because it can be taken at home.
A separate antiviral pill from Merck & Co. and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics LP is expected to receive authorization soon." [1]
1. U.S. News: Gilead Drug Reduces Hospitalizations
Walker, Joseph. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 23 Dec 2021: A.8.
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