The UK health ministry has announced that the antiviral drug remdesivir would be made available to selected COVID-19 patients while the World Health Organization (WHO) is putting the hydroxychloroquine/chloroquine arm within the COVID-19 Solidarity Trial on hold.
You may also like: From Hydroxychloroquine and Remdesivir to Plasma Administration
On 26 May, the UK government said the National Health Service would provide access to remdesivir to adult and adolescent COVID-19 patients meeting certain clinical criteria, to speed up their recovery. Treatment was authorised through the Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)’s Early Access to Medicines Scheme and will be prioritised for patients who are likely to benefit the most.
The antiviral drug, originally developed as an Ebola treatment, is currently
undergoing clinical trials for COVID-19 around the world, and preliminary data show it can
shorten the time to recovery by about four days, from 15 to 11 days.
This step is part of a collaboration between the UK and
manufacturer Gilead Sciences. Similar arrangements have already been made with
other countries, including the U.S. and Japan. In mid-May, Gilead licensed
remdesivir to five generic drug makers with operations in India and Pakistan,
which is reported to help to make the medicine available to 127 countries. The
manufacturers will not pay royalties until either a second drug is approved, or
the pandemic is declared ended.
In
the laboratory, remdesivir has
been found to inhibit the growth of several notable viruses, including
severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), Middle East
respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS), SARS-CoV-1, and SARS-CoV-2. In early April, the European Medicines
Agency approved
remdesivir for compassionate use in COVID-19 patients.
Meanwhile,
WHO’s clinical trial of another much-hyped potential COVID-19 treatment, hydroxycholoroquine
and chloroquine, has been paused. This was announced
by WHO Director-General Dr
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at the media briefing on COVID-19 on 25 May. (UPDATED, 4 June 2020: the study has been since resumed.)
Some
two months ago the UN agency initiated the
Solidarity Trialto evaluate the safety and efficacy of four drugs
and drug combinations against COVID-19. For now, about 3,500 patients from 17
countries have been recruited.
On May 22, the
Lancet published an
observational study on hydroxycholoroquine and chloroquine (commonly used
for autoimmune diseases or malaria) and its effects on COVID-19 patients
that have been hospitalised. The study found that hydroxychloroquine alone and its
combinations with other medicines were independently associated with an
increased risk of in-hospital mortality. The next day, the Executive Group of
the Solidarity Trial agreed to review evidence available globally and to
implement a temporary pause of the hydroxychloroquine/chloroquine arm within
the trial until the safety data has been reviewed. (UPDATED, 4 June 2020: The integrity of the study has since been disputed, and the Lancet has retracted it.)
In April, CDC removed
the guidance for using hydroxychloroquine as a potential treatment for the new
coronavirus.
Image credit: solarseven
via iStock