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WASHINGTON, April 29-- Hospitalized patients with advanced COVID-19 and lung involvement who received remdesivir recovered faster than similar patients who received placebo, according to a release from the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) on Wednesday. The conclusion came out of preliminary data analysis from a randomized, controlled trial involving 1,063 patients, which began on Feb. 21. Preliminary results indicated that patients who received remdesivir had a 31 percent faster time to recovery than those who received placebo, according to the release. Specifically, the median time to recovery was 11 days for patients treated with remdesivir compared with 15 days for those who received placebo. The results also suggested a survival benefit, with a mortality rate of 8 percent for the group receiving remdesivir versus 11.6 percent for the placebo group. An independent data and safety monitoring board overseeing the trial met on April 27 to review the data and shared their interim analysis with the study team. Based upon their review of the data, the board members noted that remdesivir was better than placebo from the perspective of primary endpoint, or patients' time to recovery. It is a metric often used in influenza trials. The first participant in the trial was an American who was repatriated after being quarantined on the Diamond Princess cruise ship that docked in Yokohama, Japan. | 
