{"id":79944,"date":"2021-08-23T08:34:58","date_gmt":"2021-08-23T12:34:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=79944"},"modified":"2021-08-23T08:34:58","modified_gmt":"2021-08-23T12:34:58","slug":"remdesivir-is-not-an-effective-treatment-for-covid-19-who-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=79944","title":{"rendered":"Remdesivir Is Not An Effective Treatment For COVID-19, WHO Says"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"ArticleHeaderstyles__ArticleHeaderContainer-sc-1m1ueo4-0 byUjhf article-header false\">\n<div class=\"article-header__mobile-main\">\n<h2 class=\"Subheadline__ArticleSubheadline-sc-1m5whfb-0 hkpXLA\">The antiviral drug has been used on hospitalized COVID-19 patients since May, but the World Health Organization now says there is no evidence remdesivir is effective.<\/h2>\n<p>By Ashleigh Carter<br \/>\nNowThisNews<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<div class=\"sc-bdfBwQ dbgQZq\" data-element-type=\"ParagraphMainImage\" data-element-index=\"0\"><picture class=\"swiper-lazy picture-tag\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets3.thrillist.com\/v1\/image\/2918012\/792x725\/scale;jpeg_quality=60;progressive.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/assets3.thrillist.com\/v1\/image\/2918012\/792x725\/scale;jpeg_quality=60;progressive.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/assets3.thrillist.com\/v1\/image\/2918012\/1584x1450\/scale;jpeg_quality=60;progressive.jpg 2000w\" width=\"792\" height=\"725\" \/><\/picture>\n<div class=\"caption--desktop false\">Vials of the drug Remdesivir on display during a press conference ahead of a study that will test the drug on severely ill COVID-19 patients in Hamburg, Germany on April 8, 2020.<span class=\"Credit-balk7f-0 kngnoN\">\u00a0|\u00a0GETTY IMAGES<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"NodeArticlestyles__InlineAdWrapper-sc-1dhoc8d-2 fxebBK inline-ad-wrapper\" data-ad-type=\"inlineSlotSmall\">\n<div class=\"ad-wrapper ad-wrapper--inlineSlotSmall adunitContainer ad-wrapper--active\" data-ad-slot-id=\"adSlot-1\">\n<div id=\"adSlot-1\" class=\"adBox\" data-google-query-id=\"CN3T4ceTx_ICFabO4wcdHakPtA\">\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_5485\/US\/nowthisnews\/news\/article\/leaderboard_t_1_0__container__\"><iframe id=\"google_ads_iframe_5485\/US\/nowthisnews\/news\/article\/leaderboard_t_1_0\" tabindex=\"0\" title=\"3rd party ad content\" role=\"region\" name=\"google_ads_iframe_5485\/US\/nowthisnews\/news\/article\/leaderboard_t_1_0\" width=\"320\" height=\"50\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" aria-label=\"Advertisement\" data-google-container-id=\"3\" data-load-complete=\"true\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<div class=\"styles__BodyText-d07mme-0 eBPPzC page-element paragraph undefined ad-inserter--targeted\" data-element-type=\"ParagraphBodyText\" data-element-index=\"1\">\n<p>The World Health Organization is advising against using the antiviral drug remdesivir as a COVID-19 treatment, citing that there is no evidence of the drug improving patients\u2019 recovery.<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, a WHO panel released\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/press.psprings.co.uk\/bmj\/november\/remdesivir.pdf\">new guidelines<\/a>\u00a0in the medical journal, The BMJ on treatments that have been used on COVID-19 patients. The panel analyzed remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine, and lopinavir-ritonavir used on hospitalized COVID-19 patients and wrote that \u201cthe role of these drugs in clinical practice has remained uncertain.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The organization<a href=\"https:\/\/www.who.int\/news-room\/feature-stories\/detail\/who-recommends-against-the-use-of-remdesivir-in-covid-19-patients\">\u00a0cautioned\u00a0<\/a>against using remdesivir \u201cin hospitalized patients, regardless of disease severity, as there is currently no evidence that remdesivir improves survival and other outcomes in these patients.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The new\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bmj.com\/company\/newsroom\/who-guideline-development-group-advises-against-use-of-remdesivir-for-covid-19\/\">guideline\u00a0<\/a>came from analyzing data from four randomized international trials with 7,000 patients hospitalized for COVID-19. The trials showed the drug had \u201cno meaningful effect on mortality or on other important outcomes for patients, such as the need for mechanical ventilation or time to clinical improvement,\u201d according to the WHO. The panel also said the high-cost and difficulty of administering the drug (intravenously) were also factors in its recommendation.<\/p>\n<p>The guideline comes as COVID-19 surges worldwide, particularly in the U.S., where hundreds of thousands of new cases have been reported daily over the last several weeks. The U.S.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/coronavirus.jhu.edu\/data\/new-cases\">has reported<\/a>\u00a0more than 11.7 million COVID-19 cases, including at least 252,000 deaths as of Friday, according to Johns Hopkins University.<\/p>\n<p>The pharmaceutical company that manufactures remdesivir, Gilead, released a statement on Thursday saying that it is \u201cdisappointed\u201d in the WHO\u2019s latest guideline.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[Remdesivir] is recognized as a standard of care for the treatment of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 in guidelines from numerous credible national organizations,\u201d the statement read. \u201cWe are disappointed the WHO guidelines appear to ignore this evidence at a time when cases are dramatically increasing around the world and doctors are relying on [remdesivir] as the first and only approved antiviral treatment for patients with COVID-19.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Food and Drug Administration\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fda.gov\/media\/137564\/download\">issued<\/a>\u00a0emergency use authorization (EUA) for remdesivir in May but revised the approval in late October and limited the treatment to hospitalized patients only. When President Trump contracted COVID-19 in early October, doctors gave him a \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2020\/10\/04\/health\/covid-trump-drugs-remdesivir-dexamethasone-explainer\/index.html\">cocktail<\/a>\u201d of treatments including remdesivir.<\/p>\n<p>The WHO panel also reiterated that the recommendation of using common corticosteroids on severe COVID-19 patients has not changed.<\/p>\n<p>The treatments for COVID-19 have evolved in the months since the virus first emerged in late 2019. Hydroxychloroquine was once thought to be a viable treatment option, but the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fda.gov\/drugs\/drug-safety-and-availability\/fda-cautions-against-use-hydroxychloroquine-or-chloroquine-covid-19-outside-hospital-setting-or\">\u00a0FDA later advised<\/a>\u00a0against using the drug and revoked its EUA.<\/p>\n<p>The WHO announcement comes as pharmaceutical giant Pfizer\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pfizer.com\/news\/press-release\/press-release-detail\/pfizer-and-biontech-submit-emergency-use-authorization\">announced Friday\u00a0<\/a>it would submit its COVID-19 vaccine candidate produced in part with BioNTech to the FDA. The company said the promising vaccine was shown to be 95% effective at preventing COVID-19 in clinical trials. Moderna\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nowthisnews.com\/news\/a-second-promising-covid-19-vaccine-shows-a-90-effectiveness-rate\">announced<\/a>\u00a0its own vaccine candidate earlier this week and said it would be submitting for EUA from the FDA in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/nowthisnews.com\/news\/remdesivir-is-not-an-effective-treatment-for-covid-19-who-says\">https:\/\/nowthisnews.com\/news\/remdesivir-is-not-an-effective-treatment-for-covid-19-who-says<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The antiviral drug has been used on hospitalized COVID-19 patients since May, but the World Health Organization now says there is no evidence remdesivir is effective. By Ashleigh Carter NowThisNews<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=79944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79944\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=79944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=79944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=79944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}