Although remdesivir has been hailed as a game changer by some, a clinical trial conducted in Wuhan, China, did not find any statistically meaningful difference in recovery for COVID-19 patients getting remdesivir infusions compared with patients receiving a placebo, and a large clinical trial twice changed the measure by which it judged the drug’s success in treating COVID-19 symptoms.
In a recent article about remdesivir in Science News, William Powderly, MD, the J. William Campbell Professor of Medicine, said these issues still leave researchers with many questions about remdesivir. Some of those questions are how effective is the drug, who are the patients that will benefit most from the treatment, when is the best time to give the drug, and what are the side effects. “We have a drug that appears to have an effect. Is it a slam dunk? Is it a home run? No,” he said.