World Health Organization defends Covid-19 drug study after remdesivir maker Gilead questions methodology
- Research has raised questions about whether the antiviral, which was one of the drugs given to Donald Trump, is any use in treating the disease
- Chief statistician in study says the scale of the latest study means it is more representative than previous research
The World Health Organization has defended a study that sparked a debate about whether the antiviral drug remdesivir is any use in treating Covid-19.
The report was based on a large-scale clinical trial of four drugs that concluded none of them helped reduce mortality or the amount of time patients spent in hospital.
Gilead, the firm that makes remdesivir, has hit back at the study, questioning its methodology. “We are concerned the data from this open-label global trial has not undergone the rigorous review required to allow for constructive scientific discussion, particularly given the limitations of the trial design,” the company said in a statement.
The WHO defended the robustness of its findings, saying the scale of the study has made it more representative than previous studies, including those commissioned by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the US.
Oxford University Professor Richard Peto, who was the chief statistician in the trial, told a media briefing on Friday: “It [the number of subjects] is more than three times as big as all the other evidence in the world put together.”