{"id":59957,"date":"2020-05-19T19:29:47","date_gmt":"2020-05-19T13:59:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=59957"},"modified":"2021-05-11T15:15:23","modified_gmt":"2021-05-11T09:45:23","slug":"what-is-remdesivir-and-why-itss-effectiveness-against-covid-19-is-doubtful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/what-is-remdesivir-and-why-itss-effectiveness-against-covid-19-is-doubtful\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Remdesivir and why its’s effectiveness against Covid-19 is doubtful?"},"content":{"rendered":"

On May 1, 2020, US\u2019s drug regulatory body Food and Drug Administration<\/strong> authorized the use of Remdesivir<\/a> on an emergency basis for the treatment of severe Covid-19 patients.<\/p>\n

A strong case for such a move was made by the director of the US National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, Dr Anthony Fauci<\/strong> who has been confident that the use of the drug has shown clear reduction in the recovery time of the patients during the trials.<\/p>\n\"Remdesivir\n

The new magic pill Remdesivir\u00a0<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Remdesivir, an experimental<\/em> anti-viral<\/strong> drug, has earlier been used for the treatment of Ebola<\/strong> in 2014, and even for MERS<\/strong> and SARS<\/strong>. But its success is still a matter of debate, which is why, it has not been sanctioned globally for any disease so far.<\/p>\n

So, how does remdesivir work against Covid-19?<\/p>\n

Well, it straight away attacks the enzyme RdRp<\/strong> which facilitates the replication of SARS-CoV2 inside the human cell and thus it shuts off virus’s replication process.Thus, the virus is not able to spread further in the bloodstream.<\/p>\n

Are there any more clinical trials for remdesivir?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Currently, six major trials<\/strong> being done all over the world to test the effectiveness of remdesivir in Covid-19 patients-<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \n
      \n
    1. Solidarity trials under WHO<\/li>\n
    2. SIMPLE study by Gilead Sciences<\/li>\n
    3. National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases trials in US<\/li>\n
    4. DisCoVeRy study by the French institute Inserm<\/li>\n
    5. Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences<\/li>\n
    6. China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Wuhan, China<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      In the case of Covid-19, Gilead had started laboratory tests of remdesivir in January 2020, basing it on the fact that the drug has worked against SARS and MERS in animal models.<\/p>\n

      Is there a disagreement for the use of Remdesivir?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

      Yes some disagreement on the effectiveness of Remdesivir has come from very reputed sources.<\/p>\n

      Firstly<\/strong>, it is the WHO that released a small study in April 2020 in which very limited effect of Remdesivir was observed on corona patients in Wuhan.<\/p>\n

      Secondly<\/strong>, a reputed medical journal Lancet<\/em><\/strong> has contradicted the findings of Gilead on Remdesivir in its publication on 29th<\/sup> April, which quoted that \u201cRemdesivir was not associated with statistically significant clinical benefits\u201d.<\/p>\n

      Thirdly,<\/b> in India, the chief operating officer of Lilavati Hospital<\/strong> in Mumbai, Dr. V. Ravishankar, is of the view that the use of Remdesivir in critical stage Covid-19 patients is too risky.<\/p>\n

      Despite all the disagreements, India might still see an active use of Remdesivir in future as Gilead is vigorously pursuing Medicines Patent Pool<\/strong> to get license for the use of Remdesivir in developing countries.<\/p>\n

      Health activists organizations, such as Third World Network<\/strong> and Cancer Patient Aid Association<\/strong>, are building pressure on the Indian government to revoke the patent of the drug. They are accusing patent offices of procedural lapse in granting the patent for Remdesivir.<\/p>\n

      WHO’s trial of Remdesivir and other drugs<\/strong><\/h5>\n

      While India has not been a part of Gilead\u2019s Compassionate Use programme<\/strong> for research on Remdesivir, it has been active in its support to WHO’s Solidarity Group<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

      Solidarity Group trials is a multilateral effort with over 100 countries participating. It was launched on 18th<\/sup> March, 2020 and around 1650 patients from all over the world have been enrolled.<\/p>\n

      It involves randomized clinical trials<\/strong> with a reduced time frame of up to 80%. A single randomized trial will ensure a speedy comparison of unproven treatments around the world in times of a global emergency.<\/p>\n

      Skepticism over the use of these drugs will continue to prevail until strong and universally applicable evidences<\/strong> are laid down. For that extensive testing is the only way.<\/p>\n

      Read Also :-IAS Preparation strategy<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

      \n

      Related<\/p>\n

      1.What is pooled testing and why has ICMR allowed it ?<\/a><\/p>\n

      2.How close are we to create a vaccine for Coronavirus<\/a><\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      \r\n

      This article series is a part of ForumIAS's Qrious Project. You can find other article in the series HERE\u2192<\/a><\/p>\r\n

      Leave comments down below to tell us how you found our effort\u00a0?\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

      To get all important updates\u00a0subscribe us\u00a0now<\/em><\/a><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      The US has allowed the emergency use of experimental antiviral drug Remdesivir for coronavirus treatment. Know here why -><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":61026,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1053],"tags":[1086,1087,75,1083,1091,1090,549,1088,1085,1082,1084,1089],"class_list":["post-59957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-qurious","tag-corona-trearment","tag-covid-19","tag-current-affairs","tag-drug","tag-ebola","tag-gilead","tag-healthcare","tag-pandemic-control","tag-qurious","tag-remdesivir","tag-vaccine","tag-who","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Untitled-design-5.png?fit=1000%2C390&ssl=1","views":{"total":537,"cached_at":1612336749},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

      As long as these trials are inconclusive, it is difficult to pass a judgement on the usefulness of Remdesivir. Nonetheless, it is important to consider that US leadership had even earlier shown faith in the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine<\/strong> <\/a>and was deeply disappointed.<\/p>\n