NEW DELHI: The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended against using Ebola drug remdesivir in hospitalised Covid-19 patients, over a month after its Solidarity Trial revealed that the antiviral, along with five other medicines tested, had no significant benefit for coronavirus patients.
The drug — which is manufactured by 6 Indian companies following their tie-ups with its original proprietor, US based Gilead Sciences — had been granted emergency use authorisation in India for Covid-19.
However, an expert panel of the World Health Organization has concluded that remdesivir, given intravenously, has no meaningful effect on mortality or on other key outcomes for patients, such as the need for mechanical ventilation or time to clinical improvement.
The report by the panel, published in British Medical Journal on Thursday, did not rule out the drug’s use altogether as Covid-19 treatment, but said evidence was lacking to recommend its use.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the repurposed drug has generated much interest after it was shown to work against SARS-CoV-2 in laboratory conditions.
The Recovery trial, overseen by the US National Institutes of Health, had also suggested that the medicine helped Covid-19 patients recover and get out of the hospital faster by about four days even though there was no impact on mortality.
The multi-country Solidarity Trial, however, said remdesivir and other drugs studied “appeared to have little or no effect” on patients.
Some doctors have been vouching for the medicine ever since it became available in India.
Many other medical practitioners, however, criticise the continued use of the antiviral drug for Covid-19, especially as it costs about Rs 20,000-24,000 per course per patient.
The use of remdesivir, they argue, helps the drugmakers instead of patients.