Gilead's coronavirus treatment remdesivir just succeeded in a crucial study, raising hopes for a first COVID-19 drug
A leading coronavirus treatment candidate succeeded in a critical trial, the biotechnology company Gilead Sciences said Wednesday.
The antiviral drug remdesivir is being tested in several ongoing trials of COVID-19 patients. Gilead said that one of these studies, run by the US National Institutes of Health, shows the drug works. The company didn't provide additional data from that study.
"We understand that the trial has met its primary endpoint," Gilead said in a statement. The company said that the NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases would provide more information at a briefing. NIAID doesn't have any further information to provide right now, but is planning an announcement, a spokesperson said.
Remdesivir has become a leading hope for a COVID-19 treatment, as other repurposed drugs have largely disappointed with early study results. Gilead's drug has not been approved to treat any diseases but was previously tried in Ebola patients.
Having an effective treatment against COVID-19 would be a significant milestone in the fight against the pandemic. So far, doctors have only been testing unproven drugs in COVID-19 patients.
Gilead's announcement boosted the entire stock market on Wednesday morning. S&P 500 futures rose 2.4% in early trading. Gilead shares jumped 8.4
Gilead also released results Thursday from its own trial of remdesivir in patients with a severe form of COVID-19. This study did not compare patients who got the drug to a group that got a placebo, making the results more difficult to interpret. It tested 5-day and 10-day regimens of remdesivir in patients.%.
Merdad Parsey, Gilead's chief medical officer, said Gilead's results complement the data from the NIH's placebo-controlled trial, and are intended to help figure out the right dose to give patients.
This study showed similar improvements for patients treated with either the 5-day or 10-day treatment course. More than half of severe COVID-19 patients in this trial left the hospital within two weeks of starting treatment with remdesivir.
Using a 5-day course could effectively double the number of patients that can be treated with the available supply of remdesivir. The company has already started ramping up manufacturing capacity, planning to pump out more than 1 million treatment courses by year's end.
Gilead Sciences • Remdesivir • Coronavirus • Antiviral drug • National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases • Clinical trial
