Gilead says Redseve's treatment of moderate COVID-19 patients is effective!

JUNE 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- A California biotech company (Gilead Sciences) said Monday that its experimental drug, Redseve, improved symptoms after five days of treatment for patients with COVID-19 moderatesGilead Sciences gave few details Monday, but said the full results would soon be published in the medical journalRedseve is the only drug that has been rigorously tested to help fight the coronavirusA recent large study led by the National Institutes of Health found that it reduced the average recovery time for severely ill patients from 15 days to 11 daysPhoto Source: The drug is used intravenously to interfere with an enzyme used by the virus to replicate its genetic materialIt is approved in Japan for the treatment of COVID-19 and for emergency treatment in certain patients in the United StatesThe company-led study involved nearly 600 patients with moderate pneumonia who did not need oxygen supportAll were randomly assigned to receive 5 to 10 days of standard drug-plus treatment, or individually for standard treatmentPatients and their doctors know who gets what, which limits the objectivity of the resultsOn the 11th day of the study, those who took ridsieve for five days were 65 percent more likely to improve by at least one point on a seven-point scale that included the need to use a ventilator, Gilead saidBut ten days of treatment have not proved to be better than standard treatmentThere were no deaths in patients taking the drug for 5 days, 2 deaths in 10 days and 4 deaths in patients who received standard treatment onlyNausea and headaches are more common in people taking medicationThe study had some limitations, but "having a control group did help confirm that Redsewe had some benefits," said DrRadha Rajasingham, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Minnesota Medical Center who was not involved in the workShe added that because of the limited availability of the experimental drug, the benefits of treatment from five to 10 days mean more people have access to treatmentIn a note to investors, Evercore ISI analyst Umer Raffat said the study's main goals changed midway through, from the proportion of patients discharged within two weeks to an improvement after 11 days He wrote that "a considerable amount of critical data", such as hospital discharge information, had not been disclosed (BioValleyBioon.com) References: Gilead said helped moderately ill coronavirus patients