Recapping the Remdesivir Rollout
It's been one month since the antiviral therapy was granted emergency use authorization. How has it affected COVID-19 care?
At the end of April, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to antiviral therapy remdesivir, for the treatment of patients hospitalized with coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19).
The indication came in the midst of growing speculation and invested attention for the drug, which counted National Institution for Allergic and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Anthony Fauci, MD, as among its greatest vocal supporters.
Among Fauci’s praises for the drug, based on preliminary findings from the NIAID-funded ACTT-1 trial, was that it could be potentially be considered “the standard of care” for the virus.
One month has passed since remdesivir reached emergency availability and such praise. And in that month, ACTT-1 and other clinical trial data has come to paint a more defined picture of what the antiviral drug means for the pandemic—as has its initial availability to clinicians on the frontline.
Headed into the fourth month of COVID-19 response in the US, what’s to be made of remdesivir?
In an interview with Contagion®, editor-in-chief Jason Gallagher, PharmD, Clinical Professor at Temple University College of Pharmacy, shared his own one-month recap of remdesivir—seeing as he last spoke with Contagion a day prior to its EUA.
Gallagher also reviewed his own changing opinion on the drug, and how new clinical trial data has better informed its role in COVID-19 care.
“Remdesivir is not a grand slam. It’s not even a home run,” Gallagher said. “It has efficacy—I believe that.”
