Authors: By Ralph Ellis

October 19, 2020 — A large study sponsored by the World Health Organization found that remdesivir doesn’t help hospitalized patients with COVID-19 survive and doesn’t even shorten the recovery time of those who do survive.

These findings contradict smaller studies which found remdesivir, an antiviral drug, helped hospitalized coronavirus patients recover faster than patients who received a placebo. Those earlier studies led the FDA to grant emergency use authorization for the drug, which has been given to thousands of COVID patients in the United States, including President Donald Trump.

The WHO-sponsored study was conducted from March 22 to Oct. 4 and involved 11,330 patients from 405 hospitals in 30 countries. Patients were given remdesivir and three other drugs singly or in combination.

“These remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir and interferon regimens appeared to have little or no effect on hospitalized COVID-19, as indicated by overall mortality, initiation of ventilation and duration of hospital stay,” the study concluded.

The data was posted online in the preprint server medRxiv and has not been peer-reviewed or published in a scientific journal.

For More Information: https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20201018/study-remdesivir-does-not-reduce-covid-mortality