For the first time, a double-blind, placebo controlled clinical trial testing a new therapy for COVID-19, the antiviral drug remdesivir, has produced positive results.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) reported April 29 that preliminary data from the study indicates that patients with advanced COVID-19 symptoms who received remdesivir recovered 31% faster than similar patients who received a placebo.
Specifically, the median time to recovery was 11 days for patients in the treatment group compared to 15 days for patients in the control group. For the purposes of the study, recovery was defined as being well enough for a hospital discharge or to return to normal activity levels. The mortality rate for the treatment group was also lower at 8.0% compared to 11.6% for the placebo group.
The preliminary data is based on results from 460 participants out of 1,063 enrolled in the study.
“I’m cautiously optimistic that the results will look even better with more patient data analyzed,” says Elizabeth Hohmann, MD, an infectious disease specialist and principal investigator for the ACTT trial at Massachusetts General Hospital
