Remdesivir

Remdesivir is a broad-spectrum antiviral medication created by the biopharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences. It was designed to treat Ebola.

As of 2020, remdesivir is being tested as a specific treatment for COVID-19. It is being used for the sickest of patients during the pandemic. It may shorten the time it takes to recover from the infection. Treatment is given by injection into a vein.

On May 1, the United States Food and Drug Administration gave doctors permission to use remdesivir on patients with COVID-19.  Ordinarily, the FDA would test remdesivir first to see if it worked on patients with COVID-19, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, they told doctors they could start using the drug before the tests were finished.

In October 2020, the National Institutes of Health told the world the results of its tests. They studied 11,000 people and found that remdesivir did not help keep COVID-19 patients alive. Gilead and some scientists said the results of the tests might not be correct.

References

Category:Drugs
Category:COVID-19 pandemic
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