Effectiveness of Remedesvir in COVID-19 Patients Presenting at Mayo Hospital Lahore

Currently, several drugs including Remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine, chloroquine, ritonavir+lopinavir, Tocilizumab, Arbidol and interferon are under randomised controlled trials (RCTs) for efficacy and/or safety evaluations in patients with COVID-19 in different countries. Remdesivir (GS-5734) is among these investigational drugs and some studies reported promising results. Remdesivir is a nucleotide analogue intravenous pro-drug developed by Gilead Sciences, an American biopharmaceutical company, for treatment of Ebola virus during the 2014 Ebola outbreak in Western Africa. Remdesivir shows broad-spectrum antiviral activity against many RNA viruses including SARS-CoV-2 through blocking RNA polymerase thereby terminating RNA transcription. Remdesivir was among the first treatments used in China as the outbreak emerges and it has been reported as potential treatment options for COVID-19 in the USA, China and Italy.