Remdesivir Clearly Effective
Final Report Shows Remdesivir More Effective Than Thought
Drug Shortens Hospitalizations, Improves Survival
The final report of the phase 3 study of remdesivir confirms significant shortening median hospitalization from about 10 for remdesivir vs. 15 days for placebo.
Kaplan-Meier estimates of mortality were 6.7% with remdesivir and 11.9% with placebo by day 15 and 11.4% with remdesivir and 15.2% with placebo by day 29 (hazard ratio, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.52 to 1.03).
Serious adverse events were reported in 131 of the 532 patients who received remdesivir (24.6%) and in 163 of the 516 patients who received placebo (31.6%).
The US National Institutes for Health, Food and Drug Administration, CDC, and Infectious Diseases Society of America all welcomed the news.
In contrast, the World Health Organization crabbily recommended against remdesivir, while the British Medical Journal haughtily said,
The guideline panel makes a weak recommendation for the use of remdesivir in severe covid-19 while recommending continuation of active enrolment of patients into ongoing randomised controlled trials .
Indeed. Pass the crumpets and keep your weak recommendation.
Both the US and European Union have purchased nearly all available remdesivir for the coming months.
These Charts Show the Effect
Chart A (top left) shows that patients on remdesivir survived better overall.
Chart B shows similar results for those not receiving oxygen.
Chart C Shows a stronger remdesivir effect in those receiving oxygen.
Chart D shows less remdesivir effect in patients on high-flow oxygen.
Chart E shows no effect for remdesivir in patients who required mechanical ventiliation.
In patients with mild to moderate disease remdesivir appears to make an important different. Those with severe disease got no benefit, probably because the late lung effects were due to the patient’s own immune system, cytotoxic storm. It’s every bit as awful as it sounds.
Take that WHO and BMJ.
Government Job Opportunites
The US CIA is looking for the kind of people who read this blog, nerds! So says the MIT Technology Review.
Click the link to get started on an interesting job. Or apply at a big tech firm and make a lot of money.
You choose.
I’d like to remember Mila Favorov whose funeral was earlier today. She was an amazing, kind, and funny person who taught me to make Korean borscht.
Tomorrow, we’ll look at how remdesivir works and compare it with vaccine.
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