Coronavirus: Antiviral that has ‘shown promise’ among US biomedical agency’s drug tests, after patient responds to remdesivir medication
- Gilead Sciences’ remdesivir was initially developed to fight the Ebola virus, and the company is working with Chinese health officials on a clinical trial
- The first coronavirus patient in the United States was treated with remdesivir in late January and his symptoms improved
The US government’s biomedical research agency is preparing to test several medications as possible treatments for the new coronavirus epidemic, including Gilead Sciences’ remdesivir.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) “is preparing protocols for in vitro and in vivo studies of the antiviral remdesivir, which has shown promise against other coronaviruses in animal models”, an official at the agency said.
NIAID, a unit of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is also moving to evaluate “other antivirals in preclinical and clinical development through similar studies”, as well as approved drugs including lopinavir and ritonavir, two antiretroviral components of the pharmaceutical company Abbvie’s HIV drug Kaletra, the NIAID official said.
The institute’s use of remdesivir, which was initially developed to fight the Ebola virus, follows China’s decision last month to patent the use of remdesivir to fight Covid-19, the official name for the illness caused by the coronavirus that first sickened people in Hubei province.
The Chinese move has raised questions about who would have control over the use of the drug if it proves effective in treating the new disease.
The state-backed Institute of Virology in Wuhan, the provincial capital where the contagion began to spread in December, filed the patent in China. The application is still pending there. Remdesivir has not been approved anywhere globally.