BENGALURU: Soon after its launch in India last month, Remdesivir, the antiviral drug, is “judiciously and successfully” being used by intensivists and physicians for some Covid-19 patients in hospitals in Bengaluru. “Remdesivir is an antiviral drug found to be effective in mild to moderately severe infection. It helps reduce the progression to severe disease and may help save lives,” Dr Sunil Karanth, chairman, Critical Care Medicine, Manipal Hospital, told TNIE.
“Research has shown that use of steroids like Dexamethasone reduce the inflammatory cascade and help reduce mortality by tempering the human body’s response to the infection. A substantial number of patients have increased clotting due to a hyperactive immune response, which results in clogging of the tiny blood vessels in the vital organs causing multiorgan failure in severe Covid-19 infections. This is managed by administering blood thinner drugs called anticoagulants like Heparin or Enoxaparin,” he added.
Dr Farooq Khan, consultant intensivist at Bhagwan Mahaveer Jain Hospital, said they have “successfully tried a combination of Remdesivir along with Dexamethasone and Enoxaparin (low molecular weight Heparin) on 20 Covid-19 patients, including those with co-morbid conditions like diabetes and asthma.”
“Remdesivir was launched late last month in India. We got the drug on June 26. It helps prevent viral replication in the early part of infection,” he added.
According to intensivists, the multimode treatment is guided by tracking important biomarkers like C-Reactive protein, d-dimer and Interleukin-6. “These markers help us know the stage of the disease and the response to treatment,” said Dr Karanth. The government has recently directed some pharmaceutical companies to line up the production of the corticosteroids – Dexamethasone and Methylprednisolone and Enoxaparin.
Two Indian pharmaceutical companies – Hetero and Cipla under licence from the American manufacturer Gilead Sciences — were in June given a go-ahead by the Drug Controller General of India to manufacture Remdesivir for “restricted emergency use for Covid-19 patients”. Cipla is manufacturing the drug under the brand name CIPREMI for “restricted emergency use of the drug in the country.” Hetero has launched Remdesivir under the brand COVIFOR for “suspected or confirmed Covid-19 cases in hospitalised adults and children.” “Early introduction of Remdesivir will help. The complexity of the virus is such that many may recover without the antiviral drug. The question is then, should we give it to everyone?” asked noted immunologist Dr S Chandrashekhar.