Remdesivir anti-viral trial reports ‘rapid recoveries’ for severe hospitalised coronavirus patients with ‘nearly all’ discharged within a week.
University of Chicago Medicine recruited 125 people with COVID-19 as part of Gilead Science’s clinical trials. Of those people, 113 had severe disease.
All the patients were been treated with daily infusions of remdesivir. Most of them have been discharged after their symptoms eased over a week, and only two patients died.
American stock markets rallied overnight in response to encouraging coronavirus treatment trials. Gilead Sciences Inc’s shares surged 16 per cent in after hours trading on Thursday.
There are currently no approved treatments for COVID-19, the highly contagious respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus that has infected over two million people worldwide.
Hopes have been pinned on remdesivir – an experimental drug originally designed for Ebola – but experts have urged cautious optimism.
A vial of the investigational drug remdesivir is visually inspected at a Gilead manufacturing site in the United State
The University of Chicago is one of 152 locations participating in Gilead’s trial involving severe COVID-19 patients.
It’s a ‘single arm’ study meaning it does not measure the drug against a matched group of patients treated with a placebo.
UChicago Medicine recruited 125 people with Covid-19 into Gilead’s two Phase 3 clinical trials, according to medical news website STAT.
Of those people, 113 had severe disease. All the patients were been treated with daily infusions of remdesivir
The antiviral medication led to rapid recoveries in fever and respiratory symptoms, with nearly all patients discharged in less than a week.
Most of them have been discharged and two patients died.
The ‘anecdotal data … looks promising on the surface and continues to support some potential for the drug to be active in certain COVID-19 patients,’ RBC Capital Markets analyst Brian Abrahams said in a research note.
‘Nonetheless, there are major limitations to contextualizing and interpreting this data.’
Interest in Gilead’s drug amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has been high.
The New England Journal of Medicine last week published an analysis showing that two-thirds of a small group of severely ill COVID-19 patients saw their condition improve after treatment with remdesivir.
The paper’s author called the findings ‘hopeful,’ but cautioned it is difficult to interpret the results since they do not include comparison to a control group.
The patient numbers were small, the details being disclosed were limited, and the follow-up time was relatively short.
Gilead, in an emailed statement, said ‘the totality of the data need to be analyzed in order to draw any conclusions from the trial’.
UChicago Medicine, also in an email, said ‘partial data from an ongoing clinical trial is by definition incomplete and should never be used to draw conclusions’.
The university said information from an internal forum for research colleagues concerning work in progress was released without authorization.
Gilead expects results from its Phase 3 study in patients with severe COVID-19 at the end of this month, and additional data from other studies to become available in May.
A trial of patients with moderate COVID-19 symptoms has 169 study locations.
The Dow Jones was up 3.08 per cent as of 4am ET
The Nasdaq was up 1.79 per cent as of 4.45am
The S&P was up 2.50 per cent as of 4.45am
President Donald Trump speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House. Trump said the country was ‘in the process of winning’ the war against the coronavirus
The U.S National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease in February began an 800-patient trial that randomly assigns patients to treatment with either remdesivir or a placebo. Those results are not expected until after Gilead’s trial reads out.
Shares of Gilead, which closed at $76.54 in regular trading, were up 16 per cent at $89.10 after hours.
Investors trading on the overnight futures markets were also encouraged by Trump’s press briefing, which took place after normal markets closed.
Although conceding control of when the lockdown is lifted to individual state governors, he unveiled a three-phase guidline.
In phase one, schools and organized youth activities are to remain closed, but large venues, including sit-down dining, movie theaters, places of worship and sporting venues can reopen under social distancing protocols.
Businesses are also encouraged to allow workers to work from home where possible.
In phase two, telework is encouraged, but where workers return to the office, it’s suggested common areas are closed.
In this phase, non-essential travel can also resume, bars can reopen and gyms will be allowed to operate.
In phase three, schools and youth activities can reopen, visits to senior care facilities and hospitals can resume. Worksites can also resume unrestricted staffing of worksites.