Getting closer to a safe-and-effective treatment for coronavirus AKA CoV-2 or Covid-19, Gilead Sciences’ new anti-viral drug Remdesivir has shown promise treating hospitalized patients at the University of Chicago and University of California Davis, both getting similar results. Studying 125 mostly severe Covid-19 patients with some with moderate symptoms, most of the severely ill were discharged after receiving daily infusions of the cutting-edge biologic drug. Gilead Sciences [GILD] stock jumped 9.1%, also seeing a bump in after-hours trading. Unlike hydroxychloroquine, Remdesivir is exactly the right kind of biologic agent to prevent Ribnucleic Acid [RNA] viral replication, essentially blocking the virus from growing. Instead of off-label use of anti-malarial drugs, Remdesivir targets the virus itself, something wanted in advanced biologics with targeted therapy.
One the West Coast, another clinical trial pressed on with Remdesivir at UC Davis Health, operating under FDA Commisioner Stephen Hahn’s “compassionate use” program, using experimental drugs to treat life-threatening illnesses like Covid-19. “While the overall results are promising, Remdesivir is not yet licensed or approved anywhere globally,” said Dr. Stuart Cohen, chief of infectious diseases and director of hospital epidemiology at UC Davis Health, who led the clinical trial. Gilead confirmed that 75 cities around the planet, including Europe, Canada and Japan, are currently testing the efficacy of Remdesivir on severe SARS CoV-2 cases. Cohen said while the result are promising, it was difficult to generalize from the small sample size and “relatively short” foloow-up. While Cohen admitted no randomized control group was used, he did see some promising results.
Cohen said a larger randomized control group design was underway at UC Davis Health. “We await the results of larger randomized clinical trial that is underway to demonstrate the extent of efficacy and safety of Remdisivir for the treatment of Covid-19,” Cohen said. Unlike hydroxychloroquine, Remdesivir is a high-tech, anti-viral agent capable to targeting the coronavirus RNA, preventing replication. Cohen’s cohort involves 53 Covid-19 patients aged 23 to 82 admitted to UC Davis Health hospital between Jan. 25 and March 7. Cohen’s study includes follow-ups with painters through March 20, almost a month ago. Treatments like Remdesivir offers hope for patients currently on ventilators or other forms of life-support, showing life-threatening Covid-19 symptoms. With effective treatments comes the possibility of helping reopen the country with less fear of the virus.
President Donald Trump, 73, laid out his plans for reopening the country in stages after shutting down much of the country to slow the spread of the virus. While “shelter in place” orders and distancing are effective mitigation efforts, they don’t give ordinary citizens much confidence going into crowds, risking getting the infection. Scientists don’t think the public will feel safe until there’s a vaccine in place, not something expected until sometime in 2021. Trump wants to restart entertainment and sporting events but there’s resistance to aggregating large crowds until there’s a vaccine in place, including all major sports leagues, like Major League Baseball [MLB], National Football League [NFL], National Basketball Assn. [NBA} and National Hockey League [NHL], not to mention other games like Professional Golfers Assn. [PGA] , Assn. of Tennis Professional [ATP] and even NASCAR.
Only a vaccine that prevents human-to-human transmission will reassure ordinary citizens that it’s time to start going to crowded entertainment and sporting events. Treatments like Remdesivir don’t provide enough protection to the average sports fan, moviegoer, Las Vegas or other crowd-driven entertainment venues. Trump wants to get the economy going for good reason because if it doesn’t happen soon the country could be in for another Great Depression, beyond any recession in recent memory, including the 2008-2009 Financial Crisis. Unlike other economic disasters, Wall Street doesn’t know how to deal with a global pandemic, where there’s uncertainty about returning back to normal. Like Sept. 11, people are starting to talk about the “new normal” in a post-Covid-19 world. Until there’s an effective vaccine, it’s going to be difficult to get back to the new normal.
Treatments like Remdesivir offer more promise than off-label drugs like anti-malarial drugs hydroxychloquine, whose effectiveness for treating Covid-19 has been inconsistent. Gilead Sciences is on the right track with its advanced biologic, anti-viral drug Remdesivir targeting virus replications, much like classes of anti-retroviral HIV/AIDS drugs used to save today’s generation from the dreaded disease. When it comes to Covid-19, there are many unanswered questions bout why some 25% to 50% or more have no symptoms after getting infected. Trump’s got his work cut out for him attempting a limited “open up the country” while getting to the bottom of what happened with China and the WHO, whose secrecy from Dec. 31, 2019 to March 11 morphed the coronavirus into the worst global pandemic since the 1918 Spanish Flu where 500 million were infected with up to 100 million deaths.
