Gilead's Experimental Drug A Ray of Hope

Gilead Sciences' experimental drug for patients with severe Covid-19 infections showed promise in an early analysis, raising tentative hope that the first treatment for the novel virus may be on the horizon. The report published in the New England Journal of Medicine tracked 53 people in the US, Europe and Canada who needed respiratory support, with about half receiving mechanical ventilation and four on a heart-lung by-pass machine. Eight additional patients were left out of the analysis: one due to a dosing error and seven because no information was available on how they fared.

All received remdesivir for up to 10 days on a compassionate use basis, a programme that allows people to use unapproved medicines when no other treatment options are available. Over 18 days, 68% of the patients improved, with 17 of the 30 patients on mechanical ventilation being able to get off the breathing device. Almost half of the patients studied were ultimately discharged, while 13% died. Mortality was highest among those who were on a ventilator, with 18% of them dying.

"We cannot draw definitive conclusions from these data, but the observations from this group of hospitalized patients who received remdesivir are hopeful," said lead author Jonathan Grein, director of hospital epidemiology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, in a statement from Gilead.

The Foster City, California-based company provided the medication and also helped analyze the results.

Some scientists have expressed skepticism with regard to the results. "The data from this paper are almost uninterpretable," Stephen Evans, a professor of pharmacoepidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said in an emailed statement. "There is some evidence suggesting efficacy, but we simply do not know what would have happened to these patients had they not been given the drug."