报道，实验药物remdesivir的临床试验的早期结果显示，在治疗患有严重COVID-19的患者方面有希望的结果，大多数接受该药物的患者在一周内显著改善。
尽管旨在评估该药物安全性和有效性的多项试验的官方结果尚未公布，但根据健康新闻机构STAT的一份报告，芝加哥大学的研究人员发布的一段视频显示，雷替西韦可能是一种有效的病毒治疗药物。
芝加哥大学招募了125名COVID-19患者，由药物制造商Gilead Sciences进行临床试验，其中包括113名患有严重疾病的患者。据报道，视频显示传染病专家凯瑟琳·穆兰博士本周早些时候与大学同事讨论了令人鼓舞的早期试验结果。
“最好的消息是我们的大多数病人已经出院，这太好了。据统计，我们只有两个病人死亡，”穆兰在视频中说。
该视频继续描述了一些重病患者在接受治疗后迅速好转的情况，其中包括对患者进行为期10天的雷他韦注射。
据报道，穆兰说:“当我们开始给[用药时，我们看到发烧曲线在下降。”。“当患者出现高烧时，他们的[病会很快减轻。我们已经看到有人在开始治疗一天后就停止使用呼吸机了。”
“我们的大多数病人病情严重，大多数人在6天内就要离开，所以这告诉我们治疗的持续时间不一定是10天，”她补充道。“我们只有很少的几个能坚持10天，也许3天。”
新闻周刊无法立即联系穆兰置评。
成千上万名COVID-19患者正在参加试验药物remdesivir的临床试验，remdesivir是一种最初为抗击埃博拉病毒开发的药物。ULRICH PERREY/POOL/AFP/GETTY
该报告发表后不久，基列德科学公司的股票飙升了10%以上。至少有2400名患有严重COVID-19的患者参加了该公司的remdesivir试验，还有1600名中度病例。
如果试验的结果与视频中建议的结果相似，在得出任何确定的结论时应该谨慎，因为试验不是安慰剂对照的，这意味着不能肯定地说患者因为服用了药物而有所改善。目前还没有治疗方法被证明对这种病毒是安全有效的。
一分析上周在《美国精神病学杂志》上发表了在“同情使用”规则下接受remdesivir治疗的患者比例新英格兰医学杂志。它也暗示了该药物治疗COVID-19的潜力，68%的患者表现出改善，包括许多机械通气患者。
“我们理解对COVID-19治疗的迫切需要，以及由此产生的对我们研究抗病毒药物remdesivir数据的兴趣，”Gilead Sciences媒体关系高级总监克里斯·里德利在一份声明中说新闻周刊。“为了从试验中得出任何结论，需要对全部数据进行分析。轶事报道虽然令人鼓舞，但并没有提供必要的统计能力来确定remdesivir作为COVID-19治疗的安全性和有效性。
他补充道:“我们预计，在严重COVID-19感染患者中进行的3期研究的数据将于本月底公布，其他研究的额外数据将于5月份公布。”。“我们感谢所有参与我们研究的研究者和患者的努力，并期待分享完整数据集的结果。”
REMDESIVIR SHOWS PROMISE AS CORONAVIRUS TREATMENT AS NEARLY ALL PATIENTS IN TRIAL RELEASED WITHIN A WEEK
Early results from a clinical trial of the experimental drug remdesivir reportedly show promising results in the treatment of those suffering from severe COVID-19, with most patients receiving the drug significantly improving within a week.
Although official results for multiple trials intended to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the drug have yet to be released, a video from researchers at the University of Chicago suggests that remdesivir could be an effective treatment for the virus, according to a report from health news outlet STAT.
The University of Chicago recruited 125 COVID-19 patients for a clinical trial by the drug's manufacturer Gilead Sciences, including 113 with the severe form of the disease. The video reportedly shows infectious disease specialist Dr. Kathleen Mullane discussing encouraging early results from the trial with colleagues at the university earlier in the week.
"The best news is that most of our patients have already been discharged, which is great. We've only had two patients perish," Mullane said in the video, according to STAT.
The video goes on to describe some very ill patients making rapid improvements after receiving the treatment, which involves patients being given remdesivir infusions for 10 days.
"When we start [the] drug, we see fever curves falling," Mullane reportedly said. "When patients do come in with high fevers, they do [reduce] quite quickly. We have seen people come off ventilators a day after starting therapy."
"Most of our patients are severe and most of them are leaving at six days, so that tells us duration of therapy doesn't have to be 10 days," she added. "We have very few that went out to 10 days, maybe three."
Newsweek was unable to immediately contact Mullane for comment.
Thousands of COVID-19 patients are taking part in clinical trials of the experimental drug remdesivir, a drug initially developed to combat Ebola.
Stock for Gilead Sciences shot up more than 10 percent shortly after the report was published. At least 2,400 patients with severe COVID-19 have been enrolled in the company's remdesivir trials, as well as a further 1,600 patients with moderate cases.
If the results of the trials are similar to those suggested in the video, caution should be exercised in drawing any firm conclusions because the trials are not placebo-controlled, meaning it cannot be definitely said that the patients improved because they were taking the drug. There are no treatments that have yet been shown to be safe and effective for the virus.
An analysis of patients receiving remdesivir under "compassionate use" rules was published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine. It also hinted at the drug's potential for treating COVID-19, with 68 percent of patients showing improvement, including many on mechanical ventilation.
"We understand the urgent need for a COVID-19 treatment and the resulting interest in data on our investigational antiviral drug remdesivir," said Chris Ridley, Senior Director of Media Relations for Gilead Sciences in a statement to Newsweek. "The totality of the data need to be analyzed in order to draw any conclusions from the trial. Anecdotal reports, while encouraging, do not provide the statistical power necessary to determine the safety and efficacy profile of remdesivir as a treatment for COVID-19."
"We expect the data from our Phase 3 study in patients with severe COVID-19 infection to be available at the end of this month, and additional data from other studies to become available in May," he added. "We are grateful for all of the efforts of investigators and patients participating in our studies and look forward to sharing the results from the complete dataset."
